


The Cases of London

by Shellsan



Category: Ghost Hunt
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - College/University, Kinda College AU I guess?, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-22
Updated: 2019-04-21
Packaged: 2019-04-26 07:41:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 17
Words: 75,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14397423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shellsan/pseuds/Shellsan
Summary: When Naru and Lin return to Japan to ask for the old SPR gang's help in solving a case, they didn't expect to learn that Mai and Yasu would have met up with them sooner or later as they attend Cambridge over the next few years! Join Naru as he solves the mystery of his emotions while Mai and Yasu take England by storm. This is a rewrite of an old story that is on my profile.Please note: Graphic Depictions of Violence is only in regards to future case information and is purely there just in case. If the cases get more graphic, then there will be additional tags at the beginning of each chapter.





	1. Chapter 1

So here it is. After reading your comments, you guys seemed to really want me to update as I completed the new chapters so I thought I'd listen to you and give you the chapters as I completed them so you can follow along with the new plot lines. There were a few people that also suggested that I leave the original up and post this in a new story so, here is it! The original will be marked as complete and will be titled _The Cases of London Original_ for anyone that has interest in it.

  
  


**Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt.**

  
  


**Chapter Key:**

_Mai's dreams will be in italics._

_'Thoughts'_

“Normal Speaking”

**Chapter One**

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

_Mai stood in darkness, surrounded by glowing orbs of white light that twinkled similarly to stars. On instinct, she turned to look around and see if Gene would show himself today. Ever since Naru had left for England, it was rare for her to see the medium. Part of her wished that this was because he'd moved on but she already knew that wasn't the case. Since the very beginning she'd had a somewhat special relationship between Gene and Naru that allowed her to see and understand the both of them like nobody else had previously, and it was through this connection that she was sure she could feel if Gene moved on into the next world. In fact, Mai was mostly sure that it was Naru's involvement in her life that had triggered the release of her abilities._

_Seeing no sign of Eugene, Mai turned towards the almost screen like area of blackness that was beginning to show a picture. It was seem that today she would just have to brave the dreams without him._

_Taking a deep breath, she readied herself for the dream that was to come, momentarily relieved by the fact that this wouldn't be a first person dream. Those were the worst._

_Mai observed as the scenery morphed into a mansion. The walls were old and run down, made of old cobblestone that was covered in numerous green vines where roses grew. There was a little moss that covered the building adding a little more aesthetic to the building and making it feel like majestic and magical. There was a lake in the background that contributed perfectly to the amazing picture, further helped by the setting sun that painted the background orange and pink._

_If it weren't for the shout of a man, Mai wasn't sure if she would have been able to snap herself from her awed state of mind. “Pay attention Mai!” She scolded herself, turning her attention to the man and woman that she hadn't noticed in front of the mansion._

_The woman was on the ground, hand clutching her face where it was obvious that the man above her had struck, leaving a swelling red mark._

“ _How dare you embarrass me in front of my family?! I told you never to speak unless spoken to” the man bellowed._

_Tears fell from the woman’s eyes. “I only told the truth!” She cried, “I refuse to allow my child to grow up under the conditions you give me.”_

_Sneering, the man pulled her up from the ground by her hair. “What I gave you is what a worthless slut like you deserves.”_

_Defiantly, the woman shook her head spitting towards him, “What you give me is less than what you would give to a dog. I am a human being and I don’t care what you say, my child will not grow up being treated how you treat me.” she hissed._

_The man's face went red with anger as he threw her to the ground once more, face pulled into a mocking smile. “Your child will receive exactly the same treatment as she deserves. If you can't even manage to give me a male heir, then they deserve everything that I give them. And for that matter, so do you. What is the point in a woman other than to provide gratification for all of male kind and to give them a child to continue their line? The answer is nothing.”_

_Mai gritted her teeth at the words that fell from the man's mouth. She knew that she couldn’t do anything about the remarks but regardless she found the need to restrain herself. “It’s already happened”, she told herself until she felt that she could handle it. Turning back to the ‘screen’ she continued to watch the scene play out._

_Despite the position she was is, the woman only laughed hysterically. “If anything, females are the superior beings.” She declared._

_It seemed as though she was going to say more but he wouldn’t allow it. Aiming a punch directly towards her throat, the man stopped any words she may have wanted to say. Even after delivering a few more hits, his fists seemed to clench even more, showcasing the anger that was ,coursing through his body in that moment._

“ _The only reason you live now is because if you were to die, so would the child that grows inside your stomach. However, if you continue to defy me, I will make sure that the child you so dearly wish to give a good life finds itself in pain through-out the time it lives.”_

_The man’s words sent shivers down Mai spine as she covered her mouth in horror, her image reflecting the very essence that was the woman’s face. Nodding the woman watched as her husband began to walk away only stopping briefly to call behind him. “Now hurry up. I don't have all day. Get yourself cleaned up for the guests later. I won't have you embarrassing me again.”_

_As the scene changed, Mai felt time skip forward like a chilling wind. Voices surrounded her all at once, the sound of a new-born baby, the resounding of hits and slaps, screams of anguish and fury. One thing in particular stood out to Mai. The scream of that single word. “Mum!”_

_It wasn’t hard to tell what had happened as Mai stood, watching people in black shed fake tears as a show towards the loss of the mother. The grave stone was simple and read two words, “Elizabeth Wadleigh.”_

Mai woke with a start, her body pulling itself from the dream unexpectedly and launching her spirit back into her own body once more. Despite the fact that the dream hadn't been even close to one of the worst she'd experienced over the years, Mai could still feel the anger that ran through her mind at the concept of a woman being incapable of speaking back to a man, let alone having such a thing be the cause of a woman's death right in front of a child.

Throwing the blankets aside, she rushed to her bathroom, emptying her stomach of its contents. When she finally finished heaving, she flushed the toilet and looked at herself in the mirror, shocked to see how much sweat covered her body. There were dark circles under her eyes, no doubt the result of dreaming as opposed to sleeping and she felt a little bit like someone had run over her body with a truck (something that she had in fact experienced before).

Shivering a little, Mai moved to close and lock the bathroom door, preparing to shower and warm her now freezing body.

In an attempt to snap herself out of the depressing thoughts that were beginning to form in her mind, Mai hummed lightly to herself, covering the screams that still rang through her mind somewhere, bouncing back and forwards in a way that was sure to cause a headache as some point.

Deciding that she was clean, Mai reluctantly left the warm cascading water to wrap a towel around herself while she moved to her room to choose something to wear.

Going for something simple, she threw on a light blue bardot top to go with a black midi-length skirt before checking the time. She wasn't surprised to see that she was already a little behind when she would normally wake up for an early morning start at work.

Grabbing her bag and filling it with her essentials, she locked up her apartment and started on her way over to her cafe, _Little Delights_.

Sometime are Naru had left, Mai had managed to start up a small cafe that sold various tea and sweets. Everyone had chipped in at Christmas six months ago and together they had managed to get the business up and running. Mai had never been happier than when they revealed their collective gift. There were so many tears that day.

Giggling a little at the memory, she tried not to let her mind wander to the other reason why she'd needed a new form of income. The payout she'd gotten from Naru as well as all the help that she'd received from the government and her friends combined had been enough but just before they opened the cafe, the government had deemed her old enough to worry about her own expenses which had left her a little high and dry.

Shaking away the memories, she tried to focus on something more positive as she unlocked the glass doors and let herself in. It was still early morning but she knew that it wouldn't be too long before the streets would be wide awake.

Putting on an apron, Mai set to work preparing the various muffins and other sweet treats that she always prepared fresh every morning.

It was around an hour later when she heard the door bell go off, signalling the entry of someone, despite it still being an hour before opening time.

“Jou-chan?” Bou-san called from just inside the room, already walking around like he owned the place.

“In the kitchen!” She called back, moving to set the timer so that her second batch of cookies wouldn't accidental burn before she moved to wash her hands so she could greet her father figure.

Bringing one of the Jars that she'd already filled with cookies to place of the counter, she nearly dropped it when she saw that standing with Bou-san wasn't Ayako or John, or any of the others that she'd thought might visiting with Bou-san that morning, but rather two tall stoic men that she hadn't spoken to in over a year.

“Guess who I met up with on the way over?” The monk joked slightly, a feeling of unease overcoming him. Part of him wanted to retract the statement and pretend that he had nothing to do with the presence of Naru and Lin in Mai's shop but he knew that wasn't possible.

After SPR had shut down, it took a while for Mai to bounce back. They'd all done their bit to help the young girl move on, finally remembering that she was just a teenager who didn't have a support system. But despite their best efforts, she never really cheered up like he hoped. So when he received a call from Lin the other day explaining that they required some assistance on a case in England, part of him wanted to decline without even consulting the others about it.

Normally he wouldn't have even considered something so rude, but he could still remember his depressed Jou-chan, months after their leave.

He'd managed to fight down the urge to decline and instead had offered that they come to visit to explain things in person and so that they could catch up. His reasons for this was mainly to see how it would affect Mai. Even if she was doing loads better than she had been, there was still a certain level of depression that surrounded her and he wanted to see if bringing the entire old SPR back together would be enough to offset that depression.

Seeing the look on Mai's face however, he was beginning to wonder if that had been a good call on his part.

“What are you doing here?” Mai asked, her voice even as she stared the two older men down, purposefully ignoring Bou-san. It was taking everything she had to think rationally and not throw them out of her store without a second thought.

 _'It figures. Just as I've finally managed to get over SPR splitting up and move on, they show up.'_ She groaned mentally. It wasn't that she hadn't missed them or that she didn't _want_ to see them, but more like she didn't feel ready to see them. Not yet.

Oliver looked at Mai carefully, watching her face for any sign of the different emotions that used to play so openly over her face. It became clear very quickly however, that there was no way for him to read her emotions. She was hiding them remarkably well for someone who we had always thought wore her heart on her sleeve.

“I'm here to request assistance on a case that I'm working on in England, if you're interested.” He proposed evenly.

The brunette's eyebrows furrowed slightly. “Do you not have enough workers in England to help on something like that? Isn't SPR a large company?” She inquired, a little confused. “And why wouldn't you just call? There was no need to come all the way to Japan just to fly back.”

It took a moment before Naru responded. “This particular case is more high profile and I don't trust their incompetence when dealing with the issue, so my father told me that I could pick my own team.” He explained. A small smirk entered his features. “You aren't nearly important enough for an entire flight to Japan. There was some more business to take care of here, so I decided that asking you all while here would be the most efficient way of obtaining a response.”

For some reason, Lin seemed to find this reasoning amusing and Mai managed to catch a small smirk before it was hidden behind a mask of indifference once more. “Takigawa-san was kind enough to pick us up and suggested that here was the best place to find everyone.” He added.

Glancing around the store, Mai was about to respond when the door from beside them opened, the bells chiming once more.

“Ayako!” Mai exclaimed, somewhat relieved for the distraction from her current predicament.

Walking over, she pulled the red-haired woman into a quick hug.

“Good morning Mai. How are you?” Ayako inquired, looking over at Naru and Lin pointedly.

Giggling a little at the intent in her friends gaze, she smiled. “I'm fine.”

Nodding in approval, Ayako looked like she was about to make another comment but was cut off my the bell chiming as John and Masako also entered the store.

“Good morning everyone!” John called out cheerily from next to the medium.

Placing her kimono in front of her mouth, Masako repeated the same comment in a much quieter tone of voice, smiling a little despite her confusion at the unexpected presence of Naru and Lin.

Waving towards a large table towards the corner of the cafe, much further out the way then the other tables where the old team usually sat. “Go sit down-” She started before she the door was flung open a final time and she felt herself being tackled into a hug (or more accurately, being jumped in a some-what loving manner”.

Steadying herself carefully, she turned her head to glare at the cause of her unbalance. “Damn it Yasu! It's too early in the morning for this.” She cursed him angrily.

Tilting his head, Yasuhara couldn't help but smirk. “Does that mean that if it's not morning, then it's perfectly acceptable for me to do this?” He inquired seriously.

Trying to shake herself free from his grip, the brunette let out an irritated growl. “You know that it's not!”

Just when Ayako was about to step in and help Mai out, Yasu caught sight of Bou-san and launched himself towards the monk instead.

“Oh Takigawa! Worry not my love for I would never cheat on you, even for the loveliest of ladies!” He exclaimed before giving an appraising look towards both Lin and Naru with a smirk in place. “Or even for the handsomest men.”

Giving the younger male a disgusted look, Bou-san finally managed to detach Yasu from his waist where he'd been clinging and start moving towards their usual table.

“I believe Jou-chan was about to tell us to take a seat over here instead of standing around.” He pointed out, glancing over to make sure he wasn't over-stepping.

Receiving a relieved smile in response, he grinned.

“Thanks Bou-san. If you all go take a seat then i'll bring out some tea.” Hearing a ding go off in the kitchen signalling the last of her baked goods were ready to cool, she turned around and headed for the kitchen quickly.

“Don't break my cafe!” She called back over her shoulder not looking back to see if that had gotten any kind of reaction.

Finally making it to her kitchen, Mai released a careful breath, monitoring herself carefully as she tried to do her breaking exercises while removing the cookies from the oven and placing them on a cooling wrack.

“You're fine. There's nothing to worry about. Don't stress.” She mumbled to herself, focusing on breathing for the moment.

Unbeknownst to her, the pot plants that had begun to wilt and almost flinch away from her swirling emotions, slowly began to bloom on the window sill as she managed to force herself to calm down. There was no need to freak out. It's just Naru and Lin.

Taking a final deep breath, she carefully begun to prepare a couple tea pots with tea, filling one with earl grey and the other with green tea so that the others could choose their preference.

Placing them on a tray with a collection of cups, she carefully left the kitchen and made her way over to the table where the other's were quietly discussing Naru and Lin's reasons for being in the country.

Carefully sliding the tray onto the table, making sure that the earl grey blend was near Naru and Lin, Mai pulled up a seat and sat down to find out more about the situation.

Glancing down to check her watch, she frowned when she realised that there wasn't long before she had to open up the shop.

“Can someone catch me up really quick? I don't have long before I have to open up for the day and it'll be fairly busy at first.” The brunette explained, looking over at Naru expectantly.

Yasu looked over and gave her an incredulous look. “Surely you can afford to open a little later than usual today?” He insisted. It wasn't like having Naru and Lin back in the country was something that happened frequently. In fact, this was the first time in two years.

Huffing, Mai crossed her arms with a disappointed look. “No way. I have a business to run. I can't help it if they decide to show up unexpected but I'm certainly not about to encourage the behaviour by opening late.” She scolded.

Ayako nodded in agreement from across the table. “Spoken like a true business woman.”

“We can catch you up when you have a moment later in the day then. When do you think you'll have a minute?” Naru interjected before another argument could start out. He was very quickly remembering the things that he disliked about this team before he left.

Thinking for a moment, Mai checked her watch again. “In two or three hours it'll be quiet and I have another worker coming in to prepare for the lunch time rush. If you're fine hanging around until then.”

Naru looked over at Lin before nodding in acceptance. “That will be fine.” He agreed.

Standing up from the table, she grinned. “Well then, make yourselves comfortable. If you need the internet for anything, just get Yasu to set you up.” She informed before thinking for a moment. “Or better yet, John might be a safer option. There's more tea out back and you guys can grab a couple snacks if you want. As long as John's the one grabbing them.”

She gave a pointed look to Yasu. “Don't go near my kitchen.”

Yasu placed his hands up in a sign of surrender, smirking despite the snickers from around the table. “I don't know why you're only talking to me. Masako grabbed the same amount of cookies as I did!” He accused.

From across the table, Masako looked greatly offended. “I did no such thing.” She scoffed, turning her head away.

Rolling her eyes, Mai walked over to place the sign out front and flick the one on the door to open.

“Time to get to work.”

 


	2. Chapter 2

So you guys may notice that this is being released at the same time as the previous chapter. This is only because I made my decision after finishing this one off this morning. The chapters will officially come out as I complete them over the next week or so.

I hope you guys enjoy the little snapshot of Lin that I added in because I felt like he wasn't getting enough screen time. I think it's a good way of showing how I imagine Naru acting since he left and it'll definitely make tying things into the flow later on easier.

Writing this up now, I realise that Masako, Ayako and John are all mostly quiet in this chapter and this might be the case for a lot of the beginning chapters. I do have plans for them later on the story however so don't worry, they will not be short changed. Every character will get their own mini-plot line to follow.

Fun facts for the chapter: The timeline of this story right now is around a month off. In Japan their school year runs from April until March the following year. This means that Mai would be graduating in March. When I checked the university dates for Cambridge to see how they would coincide I found that Mai and Yasu would be starting in the the Easter term that runs from around the mid-the end of April until mid-June. I don't know what the rules are for university transfers across country or if it's common to have people start late in the term. Here is Australia it is possible to start university half-way through the year in around June but I wanted Mai and Yasu to start sooner than that I I'm going to set them up as a special case.

 

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt**

 

**Chapter Key:**

“ _English Speaking”_

“Normal Speaking”

**Chapter Two**

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

Just like Mai had predicted, it was a few hours before her next worker came in and she could take a quick break over with the others. It was around ten thirty so she had just over an hour before things really picked back up.

Pulling up her chair again, she rolled her eyes at the look Yasu was giving her from behind the cookie that he had shoved in his mouth.

“You enjoying that?” She asked, mildly amused.

At the grin she got in response, she just rolled her eyes. Why did she even bother?

Turning to Naru and Lin (and wasn't _that_ a surreal thought still?) for what felt like the millionth time that day.

“So what have you guys managed to discuss?” The brunette inquired, glancing around the table to everyone else.

Bou-san spoke up before Naru could, grinning at her. “We were just trying to figure out how many of us can afford the time off to go to England.” He explained. “We just need to know if you'll be able to make it on this trip. I know it's a little last minute.”

Mai stopped to think for a moment before giving Naru an inquisitive look. “When would we be leaving? I can't just up and leave the store alone without organising for someone to take over all of my opens who I can trust.”

From across the table, Yasu scoffed with a smirk. “But Mai- _chan_ , it shouldn't be too hard. You chose someone to take over like a month ago for when we leave later this year. I'm sure Erika would love to take over early. You know she could use the extra money at the moment too.” He pointed out.

Ayako nodded in agreement.

This prompted a confused look from Naru as he tried to figure out what exactly they were on about. It sounded as though Mai and Yasu were planning to go to England sometime soon but he couldn't figure out _why_ that would be.

As it was, he had been hopeful that Mai at least would be keen to come to, England for a case, even if she no longer had any interest in the subject of parapsychology (a fact that he would be unaware of because he'd up and left so quickly that he hadn't thought to give Mai any form or contact with himself). For reasons that he chose not to examine closely, he felt a little irritated at himself for this fact.

Annoyed with his lack of knowledge on the situation, Naru took a sip of his tea before he gave Yasuhara his attention. “What do you mean leave later this year?” He asked, trying not to sound as though he was too interested in the answer.

Pushing up his glasses so that they reflected, Yasu smirked. “Leave for Cambridge of course! Mai and I can hardly study parapsychology here when there are so many better schools that are all too willing to give us the right type of experience.” He pointed out as if it was obvious.

Naru was shocked for a moment and he wasn't sure what to say to this new knowledge. Mai and Yasu were going to be attending Cambridge this year.

Once more the feeling of happiness was back and Naru squashed it down quickly.

“I'm shocked that you managed to make it in with grades like yours.” He teased Mai, resorting to the only thing he could do in this situation.

Said brunette huffed, cheeks puffing out angrily as her face went slightly red. “You stupid jerk! I'll have you know that I topped my class in every subject this year!” She exclaimed proudly.

She didn't mention the numerous lessons that she'd needed from Yasu and how hard he worked to try and catch her up after all the stuff that she'd missed by working with SPR all the time. Naru didn't need to know that.

“I do have to wonder if if you really did get top grades if you're insults haven't changed.” He baited, smirking as he watched her get angrier.

“ _Would you feel better if I insulted you in English instead you damn narcissistic jerk?”_

The sudden language change shocked Noll for a moment before he caught up and switched back to his native tongue.

“ _I see you've finally learnt a skill that will actually useful in real life.”_ He pointed out to cover up how off-kilter he was feeling. There were so many new things that he does know of understand about Mai. It was weird for him to think of all the things that he'd missed in the past year and a half.

Mai rolled her eyes at his comment, reminding herself that she was just being baited so he could get a response. The concept made her snicker except stopping herself from reacting every time Naru pulled something like this was harder than it should be. Even if she knew that he was just doing it for the rise it would cause him (I'm not your entertainment you jerk!) she couldn't help but react.

“ _Of course I'm fluent in English now. I don't know how you would have expected me to go to Cambridge in London, where they speak English, with anything less.”_ She pointed out, glad that she finally had one up over him.

**-0-0-0-0-0-**

Despite the change in language, Lin noted that the change in language didn't seem to be bothering anyone, something that would definitely be useful in the next week while they were all in England.

This wasn't nearly the most insteresting this that was going on in that moment though.

Watching Noll argue back and forwards with Mai for the first time in over a year, there was a sense of gratefulness that he felt. Unlike his emotionally constipated charge, he recognised that this was the result of him not only missing the young brunette woman (something that greatly surprised him), but also Noll having been even less like a teenager since their return.

Even though the dark haired boy didn't seem to have realised it, Noll's parents and himself certainly had. Ever since they left the country, Oliver had been even quieter than usual and was almost always working. He knew that Martin and Luella were convinced that this was because of Gene's death and they were trying to be tactful about their worry, but he theorised that some of it was because he'd left behind the freedom of Japan for the sake of his parents.

Seeing their interactions, Lin knew that he'd been correct. Whether his charge realised it or not... well there was no way. Noll wouldn't notice emotions if they hit him flat in the face.

This made him smirk internally.

Turning his attention towards the monk sitting next to Mai, a thought about adoption suddenly entered his mind. Despite the short time that they'd all been together, Mai knew that SPR had become the orphan's default family, something he was proud to be apart of. But no-one had been closer to Mai than Houshou-san. The monk had become someone that Mai could really lean on and she had looked to him for support on numerous occasions.

“Houshou-san, I was wondering. Did you end up adopting Mai?” He asked them when there was a break between Mai and Noll's bickering.

This garnered a couple of looks from the others as Noll regarded him with somewhat confused eyes.

Looking at a snickering Houshou, he couldn't help the raised eyebrow at the mirth that was clearly on the other man's face. Lin wasn't sure what exactly was so amusing but he didn't like that he was being laughed at.

As if sensing his predicament, Houshou grinned. “Sorry. You just reminded me of something.” He apologised. “I actually did offer. Multiple times. But Mai's stubborn and she didn't want to be a burden even though I told her it wouldn't be one. When she got fed up with me asking though, it was classic.”

This was sure to be a good story.

**-0-0-0-0-0-**

Groaning when Mai realised what Bou-san was going on about, the brunette actively looked anywhere but at the two men across the table. Finding a spot on the table, she tried to act like it was the most important thing as they laughed at her embarrassment.

“Oh yeah I remember!” Yasu exclaimed. “That was when Mai threatened to beat him with Ayako's purse if he didn't cut it out.”

Glaring over at her best friend, she tried to look betrayed even though he'd done exactly what Mai had expected him to do.

From across the table, Masako placed a careful, kimono covered sleeve in front of her face. “It was quite the scene that she made.” She couldn't help but add, finding easy amusement in the brunette's predicament.

Huffing, Mai ignored the heat that had spread over her cheeks as she turned her glare to Masako. “In my defence, he'd asked over ten times already and I'd turned him down very clearly everytime _and_ I hadn't had enough time to sleep between school, work and...” She cut herself off, relieved when Ayako took over, cutting off the awkward silence that should have followed her broken sentence.

“I wasn't aware that you cared enough to count.” She teased.

Throwing her hands up in frustration at the comment, Mai pulled herself up from her seat. “See if I ever let you guys in for free tea ever again.” She grumbled, all too aware of how quickly things had gotten off topic.

Naru seemed to be under the same impression. “Back to the original question, can I count of you coming to England for this case or not?” He asked, irritated that he'd allowed the conversation to get so far away from the original focus. Normally he was much more tight lipped than this and he didn't like feeling like he didn't have control over his own comments.

With a sigh, Mai nodded. “I'll organise it. Just give me a date and I'll get things sorted out.” She promised.

Smiling happily John was glad to finally hear confirmation. It'd be nice to be somewhere that he could speak fluent English all the time.

“Let's try to keep you out of trouble for this one.” He remarked.

This comment seemed to spark a reminder for Ayako all of a sudden and she turned back to Mai with an inquisitive look.

“That reminds me, are you allowed to be going anywhere? I haven't spoken to you in person for a few days so I haven't gotten an update on your previous injuries.”

Rolling her eyes, Mai couldn't help but smile at the older woman's worry. “Don't worry. The doctor cleared me of all injuries yesterday so I'll be fine.” She assured her.

Noll raised an eyebrow at this new information as he looked over at Mai. Even though the concept of Mai getting injured isn't a new one, a part of him felt unnecessary guilt for not being there to prevent whatever had caused the injury.

“What injuries?” He asked, looking around in confusion as everyone's faces went from happy to forlorn in a matter of seconds.

“I'll get more tea.” Mai said decisively as she picked up the tray and walked back into the kitchen.

As soon as she was gone, Ayako smiled depreciatingly.

“While you guys were away we all still took various cases and sometimes we'd get together to help each other out. Mai doesn't come along as often as she used to but if they days line up with when she can afford to leave the story alone and come with us then she comes along to help out. Around a week ago we finished up one of the more dangerous cases that we've had and Mai came out of it with malnourishment, severe dehydration and some cuts that required stitches after she got kidnapped by the spirit for the full three days that we worked to figure it out.” The red-head explained, voice uncharacteristically soft. “Mai seems to be fine, all things considered, but when we try to talk about what happened to her when she was down there she goes quiet on us.”

Naru let this sink in as Mai returned with fresh tea, mind running through all the different things that Mai could have experienced in her time while captured. He could have laughed at how much of a danger magnet she was if he didn't find the thought so worrying.

“Are you sure that you're already okay Taniyama-san?” Lin asked, his own worry beginning to show itself. The Chinese man didn't want to be dragging her into more danger after she'd just escaped it.

Smiling at the concern, Mai nodded. “Don't worry. Like I said, I've been cleared by my doctor and I feel fine.”

Glancing around the room as more and more people started to enter the cafe, Mai turned to them all. “It was great seeing you all today but I need to get back to work. Bou-san can give you my new contact information and you can let me know the date and anything else I need to know that way.” She told them before rushing over to man the register when it was clear that her worker was pre-occupied.

Watching her start to rush around, everyone except Naru stood up from the table. “Here's Mai's number.” Bou-san said, handing Naru a napkin that he'd just scribbled on.

Tucking it away , he nodded in response, the closest to a thankyou that the monk was likely to receive.

Rolling his eyes, the group said their goodbye's before they began to disperse.

When they had all left, Lin looked at Naru. “What do you want to do?” He asked his charge.

“I'm going to stay here and use the internet to sort out some emails and work. You can go take care of any of the various tasks i'm sure my father gave you before we left.” He informed, trying to act like this was a normal situation.

Nodding in understanding, Lin gave him a pointed look that screamed that he wasn't buying the excuse but that he was willing to overlook it for now. “Let me know when you want to be picked up.”

“Of course.”

**-0-0-0-0-0-**

Despite what Mai expected, throughout the second half of the day, Naru stayed in a table that was in the back corner and kept to himself for the entire afternoon, barely moving at all while he worked away at something on his laptop.

Every now and then, Erika would take it upon herself to refill his cup of tea, saving Mai the awkward conversation (and from feeling like his personal tea slave again).

Groaning, she rolled her shoulders back as the last customer of the day exited the shop. Flipping the sign around, she set to work wiping tables down and cleaning up what evidence of the customers was left.

“I'm off Mai. I'll see you tomorrow.” Erika said, smiling at Mai as she waved goodbye.

“Thanks for your hard work!” Mai called back.

Pushing the final chair in, Mai exited the room only to reappear with her bag.

Walking over to Naru, she raised an eyebrow. “Are you going to sit there all night or am I able to lock up my store?” She asked half-joking.

Looking up from his laptop, Naru closed it and placed it in its case without a word.

Rolling her eyes at the silence, she picked up the tea cup that he had on the table and quickly moved into the kitchen to wash it up before she left.

Returning to main room, she waited until Naru stepped out of the cafe before setting the internal alarm and switching off the last of the lights. Locking the last door behind her, she let out a small cry of surprise when she came face to chest with Naru as she turned around.

“What are you still doing here anyway?” She asked in frustration as she felt redness spreading over her cheeks for the millionth time that day.

Naru looked at her condescendingly. “I thought that was obvious. You shouldn't be walking around on your own at this time of the night *****.” He insisted.

“I can take care of myself.” Mai informed him coldly, trying to step around him to start going home.

Within the next few seconds she felt her foot hit a rock and could already feel the pull of gravity that was sure to make her crash to the ground.

Luckily, or not so luckily in the case of her previous point, Naru noticed immediately and had no problem pulling her back up and righting her.

“I'm more worried that you'll get _yourself_ killed without the help of anyone else.” He teased, voice uncomfortably close due their proximity.

Shivering, Mai stumbled away from him quickly, ignoring the incredulous look she got for nearly falling over again. “I'm fine.” She repeated before turning heel and beginning to walk home, not commenting when she heard Naru begin to follow after her, his longer strides easily catching up with her. Neither of them spoke for the entire duration of the walk but it wasn't uncomfortable. It was a nice change from how loud the day so far had been.

When they made it to her apartment complex, Mai wasn't surprised when Naru followed her into the lobby as they made their way into the elevator. When they reached her floor, Mai continued down to the end of the hall, pulling out her key to unlock it.

“Since you're already here, would you like to come in for some tea?” The brunette offered, sighing in exasperation.

Naru nodded in agreement. Despite the fact he'd had more than his fair share of tea today, he was quite happy to have some more. There was over a year of having mediocre tea to make up for.

“Make yourself comfortable. I'll be back in a minute.”

Looking around the living room, Naru suddenly became aware of the fact that he was in Mai's apartment for the first time. Sitting down on the couch , he couldn't help but think that the cosy set up reminded him of Mai quite well.

As the brunette re-entered the room, he accepted the tea without a word, smirking slightly at the eye roll that his lack of manners received.

Sitting down opposite him, Mai sighed. “Why are you here Naru?” She asked, too tired to play any more games now that she was finally home.

Naru took a moment to gather his thoughts before he spoke. “I wanted to... apologise... for how broken things were when we left. I know it was sudden and with everything that was going on I didn't have a chance to tell you how much I regretted how I left things.” He informed her apologetically, struggling to find the right words to say this. It wasn't his strong suit.

Smiling a little at how hard Naru as trying, she gave him her full attention.

“It's okay.” She reassured in a soothing tone. “It took me a while to get over everything but the fact that everyone else kept in touch with me after you left made things easier.”

Nodding, Naru let the information sink in, finally allowing himself to let go of the small amount of guilt that he still held onto after his departure.

“If you don't mind. It's getting late and I need to get to bed.” Mai stated after a moment.

Placing his cup on the table in front of him, now empty, Naru smirked as he rose from the couch.

“Of course. After all, you look like you could use some _beauty sleep_.” He commented, sauntering over to the door and letting himself out just in time to hear Mai from behind him.

“You narcissistic jerk!”

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

_***I just want you guys to note that this style of thinking isn't common to Japan and somewhat shows Naru's English roots. Japan is incredibly safe and walking around at what would be around seven o'clock at night in story time wouldn't even register as late for Mai. This is me speaking from not only what other people have told me but also my own experiences from being in Japan.** _

 


	3. Chapter 3

So here it is! This is the third chapter that I have re-written and I hope that you guys are enjoying things so far! Once more there is a little bit of Lin interaction in this chapter. I always felt like Lin was a very underrated character and the level of character development that Mai has with him, while non-existent, is lower than what she has with everyone else throughout the original series so I think it's important to try and build up a level of understanding between their characters earlier on.

There are a bunch more author notes for this chapter because I feel like referencing where I get my information is good and helps to make it easy for people to correct me if they themselves have information to add or correct so feel free to let me know if there's something I've written that isn't quite correct.

I've never really asked but how do you guys feel about more filler style chapters that involve in in between of point A and point B? Personally I enjoy them because there's always a level of character interaction and development in them even though there's not too much furthering the plot line but I was curious to see what everyone else thinks. But at the same time this chapter was so hard to write. I feel like skipping over the entire travel process makes for an abrupt change in reader position but I struggled so much trying to write this and I don't understand why. Hopefully it came out okay though!

 

 

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Ghost Hunt

 

**Chapter Key:**

“Normal Speaking”

“ _English Speaking”_

_'Thinking'_

**Chapter Three**

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

It was only a couple days later when Mai found herself getting into a car with everyone else so that they could get to the airport on time for their flight.

Greeting them with a smile, she squished herself in next to Yasu before they were off again.

It took them around an hour to reach the airport **A** and the entire ride was filled with endless chatter. However the moment they made it to their terminal, it suddenly hit Mai that they were about to get on a plane to got to _England_ of all places!

Bouncing slightly on her toes, she grinned at Yasu as they waited to make it through the international security.

In the back of her mind, she was glad that she'd decided to get her passport so early before their planned departure for England just in case. It was proving to be one of the better decisions she'd made.

After an hour of baggage checks and endless walking, they finally reached their boarding area and were able to collapse into the seating that is provided.

Turning to her side, she glared at Masako, Lin and Naru who all looked like this was a normal occurrence. While it made sense to the brunette that the three of them were used to the overseas travel she couldn't help but envy the ease they had conducted themselves with and how quickly they had reached this point.

Any excitement that she'd previously had was pretty much gone at this point, dampened by all the security checks and waiting around.

“Cheer up Jou-chan!” Bou-san exclaimed, appearing out of nowhere to lift her up and spin her slightly.

Letting out a small squeak in surprise, she glared at the monk who was giving her an amused look.

“Don't do that you stupid monk!” Ayako scolded, swinging her purse over his head to make the point stick. She didn't want to be anywhere near them if they were going to keep making these kind of scenes.

Collapsing into a seat of her own, she glared at Bou-san who was still rubbing at his head while Mai and scampered as far away from him as she could get.

The red-head didn't blame her.

Seeing Mai's attempt at an escape, Yasu couldn't help but wander over and swing his arm around the brunette's shoulders. “This is such a glorious day Mai-c _han._ Now if only the love of my life could accept me for who I am, then today could really be everything that I wanted and more!” He exclaimed dramatically, leaning his head into the smaller girl's shoulder.

Petting him on the head, Mai rolled her eyes at the dramatic tone. Smirking a little, she used their position to lean over and whisper something into the other boys ear, pretending not to notice the various suspicious looks that it was garnering her from everyone.

Snickering, Yasu leaning on her heavily as he glanced over at Bou-san in particular, despite his desire to look over and see the look that would be on Naru's face.

“You really are sneaky.” He admitted with a little bit of admiration in his voice. This was definitely information he could use, and the way that Mai had set things up... well he was once more reminded that maybe Mai shouldn't hang around with him so often.

Mai shrugged slightly. “It's only to get you off my back.” She insisted, despite her own excitement.

Pushing up his glasses to make them reflect, Yasu gave her a disbelieving look. “You keep telling yourself that but we all know the truth.”

Finally shoving him off of her, Mai decided to try her luck over by Naru and Lin where things were much calmer.

Taking a seat a couple chairs away from Naru, she closer her eyes briefly before opening them once more and glancing over at Naru.

Seeing him looking at her, she raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Is there something wrong?” She asked. Did she have something on her face?

Oliver regarded her with a blank look, trying not to seem too interested in the topic. “What were you and Yasuhara-san discussing?” He inquired.

For a moment Mai was surprised by the question before she shot him an innocent look. “Nothing much. Don't worry about it.”

It took everything he had not to roll his eyes at the response. If nothing else, Mai's inability to lie hasn't changed. “You said something to him and right now he looks like the cat that got the cream so if you two are about to start wreaking havoc then i'd like to know _before_ it blows up in your face.” He quipped.

Mai pouted slightly, crossing her arms. “It's not going to blow up in our faces.” She grumbled.

“So there is something then?”

Scowling at being caught, the brunette looked away. “Jerk. It's nothing to worry about.”

From beside them, Lin rolled his eyes at how transparent his charge was being and how oblivious Mai was. It's was amusing to see Noll get so worked up over someone else knowing something that he didn't when it came to Mai but he wasn't about to clue them in.

Just then, an announcement came over the system and he stood up, along with Noll.

The younger man turned to Mai. “We're boarding now.” He informed her just in case she'd missed the announcement.

Nodding, she grabbed her carry-on bag and followed after then, feeling the excitement from earlier begin to come back now that they were finally getting ready to leave.

Making it through the boarding pass check, Mai followed after Naru and Lin, accepting the earphones offered before climbing on and showing her boarding pass to the attendant who directed her to follow after Naru and Lin.

The place was set up with three seats on either side and then four seats in the middle. She couldn't help but be amazed by how big it was as she made her way to where she was sitting. Realising that Naru and Lin were waiting on her to take her seat next to the window, she made herself stop gawking and moved to catch up.

As she approached, Lin took her bag to put it in the overhead locker.

“Thank you.” She said, smiling as she climbed down to the end of their row with Lin getting in next to her and Naru following after.

Settling in, she looked at the window with excitement almost bouncing in her seat as she waited for everyone to be seated.

“We won't be leaving for well over five minutes Taniyama-san.” Lin informed her in an attempt to quell her excitement at least a little bit.

Pouting, Mai looked away from the window and tilted her head at him. “Hey Lin-san, how come you don't call me by my name like everyone else?” She asked.

It was a topic that she'd been wondering about for a while and it made for a good distraction while she waited for the lift off announcement and safety demonstration.

Lin looked over at her with a raised eyebrow. “Should I be calling you by your first name?” He asked. It was both a real question and a tease. Mai was the kind of person who liked to feel like she was close to those she cared about so something like the way he referred to her being important shouldn't come as such a surprise. However at the same time, she'd never requested that he call her by her first name.

Shrugging a little Mai grinned. “We've known each other a while and no-one else calls me by Taniyama.” She pointed out.

Plus the thought of _Taniyama-san_ always made her think of her parents that were no longer with her. Even though it was a little unprecedented, she couldn't help but want to look over her shoulder for her mother or father every time someone called her Taniyama-san **B** **.** It was a habit that even after her mother's death, she'd never quite been able to break.

Lin allowed this point. Even Noll who had made a habit of calling everyone by their last name originally to keep a specific distance from everyone had always referred to Mai by her first name.

“You don't use my first name either.” He pointed out. Not that he'd ever implied that she should be using his first name but it was the same kind of situation.

Huffing, the brunette wasn't sure how to respond to that point. “Then at least use Taniyama- _chan_ instead.” She insisted.

At the very least the change in honorific would be enough for her to stop and think before trying to find her mother somewhere in the vicinity. And this way it was a step towards them being friends. A small one but a step none-the-less. It wasn't like their wouldn't be other opportunities to bother him anyway what with her being in England over the next four years **C** **.**

Sighing, Lin nodded in agreement. “Very well. I will make an effort to remember that in future.” He agreed, somewhat put off by the hope that had been shining in her eyes.

Before Mai could say anything else to him however, the announcements began and she immediately turned to look out the window as they started moving.

From his spot beside Lin, Noll couldn't help but glance over to see Mai as they prepared for take-off. Although he wouldn't admit it, he had specifically requested for the brunette to be given the window seat since he was almost positive this was her first time in an airplane and he wanted her to experience the full excitement.

Seeing the childlike look on her face when they were barely moving made it worth it, a fact he chose not to entertain further, instead turning to the flight attendants that were preparing for the safety demonstration with familiar movements.

It was going to be a long fourteen hour flight **D**.

**-0-0-0-0-0-**

When the announcement for touch down finally came across the loud speaker system, Mai grinned, taking in everything that was out of the widow. Even though she couldn't see too much just yet, she was excited to see more of the country and she couldn't wait to go sightseeing.

“You're here to assist in a case.” Naru reminded her, as if reading her thoughts exactly.

Pouting, Mai couldn't help but stick her tongue out in response. “I know that jerk.”

Rolling his eyes at the comment, Naru stood up from his seat and started to pull down their overhead luggage before passing Lin his own and Mai's to pass down.

Waiting for the person in front of him to start moving, Naru made his way down the isles, doing his best to reach the end as quickly as possible.

Getting off the plane, he couldn't help but feel a little bit of relief. No matter how many times he flies to Japan, it's always so annoying to be on a plane for so long.

Waiting a moment for the other's to catch up, he smirked at the look of wonder on Mai's face as she looked around at everything like an excited child.

“Come on Mai. I don't know how interesting someone like you finds an airport, but I have better places to be.” He informed, satisfied when he noticed the immediate anger that came over her face.

Turning away from them, he began walking once more, already knowing that they'd catch up.

Reaching the international security, he turned to the group. “This is where I split from you.” He explained, pointing towards the two separate directions. “Just follow along and you'll figure it out easily enough.”

Nodding, the group began on their way, slowly making their way through security to meet up with him on the other side.

When everyone was together, Bou-san going so far as to do a mock head count (and gaining a bump on his head for his troubles), they all made their way over to the baggage claim area, all of them eager to get out of the airport and sleep off the worst of the jet lag.

It took a while for all of their luggage to make it's way around the belt before everyone had everything and they headed out to the arrivals section.

Finally reaching the doors, Naru scanned the area for the people who he knew were going to be waiting for them.

It didn't take more than a moment to find them. Standing a little off to the side was Madoka and his mother who were waving madly like he'd been gone for over a month instead of less than a week. A little to the side of them, his father looked like he was debating the consequences of pretending that they weren't his family.

Before he could try to slip past them unnoticed, Mai let out an excited squeal when she noticed Madoka as well.

Waving at her just as excitedly, the brunette started heading over to Madoka without a second thought, suitcase trailing behind her as they made their way through the crowd.

“Mai! It's been so long! How are you? What have you been up to? Had any new boyfriends lately?” She asked quickly, reaching over to pull Mai into a hug while the other's made their way over at a much more relaxed pace.

Mai grinned at the onslaught of questions, giggling a little as she hugged back. “I've been good. So much has happened since we last spoke and I can't wait to tell you all about it!” She exclaimed, all previous tiredness momentarily gone.

A cough from just behind Madoka made both to them come back into themselves, and Mai smiled warmly at the couple that were standing there patiently.

“ _Sorry for not introducing myself sooner. My name is Mai Taniyama and it's nice to meet you.”_ Mai greeted, holding her hand out for Martin to shake before turning to Luella and doing the same.

“ _Nonsense, there's no need to apologise. It's wonderful to meet you dear.”_ Luella stated, smiling at her easily.

“ _Mother, father. I see you've met Mai.”_ Naru stated, appearing beside Mai out of seemingly nowhere, scaring the life out of her.

The brunette shot a glare at him. “Jerk.”

There was a slight twitch of his lips of a smirk as he side-eyed her before he gave his parent's his full attention once more.

Pointing to the group that was now behind them all, he began to introduce them all one by one, all of them saying their own piece and shaking hands with the couple except Masako who simply bowed slightly.

“ _Now with the introductions out of the way, welcome to England! Grab your things and we can head out. You guys will be staying at the davis' place while you're here and if we have time before your flight back after this case, I'm definitely taking you guys sightseeing.”_ Madoka rambled, leading the way as Martin looked on in amusement.

He waited for the others to start following after her, chattering happily before travelling at the back of the group with Noll.

“ _Was your flight okay?”_ Martin asked, glancing over at Oliver briefly.

Naru did the same, keeping his eyes in front of himself but glancing over from time to time. _“It was exhausting but nothing out of the ordinary.”_ He reported. _“How was mother while I was away?”_

Smiling slightly, Martin chuckled. _“You know what she's like. She missed you every moment you were gone but she's reigned herself in so far. You may want to spend some time with her soon to make up for being gone though.”_

Oliver, sighed slightly but couldn't help the slight warm feeling he had at having someone care so much for him. _“I will.”_ He promised.

After that they fell into a comfortable silence until they reached the cars.

“ _Noll, catch.”_ Madoka called, throwing a set of keys towards the teenager. _“There are two five seater cars so we needed yours as well.”_ She informed.

Naru grabbed them easily turning towards his own car that was parked next to the other two. _“Mai. You can ride with me.”_ He stated pressing the button to unlock the car before opening the boot so that she could place her things in the back.

The brunette didn't comment on the decision, deciding it might be better for her to leave it alone for now.

Madoka rolled her eyes but didn't look surprised. _“Now that that's settled, girls with me and boys with Lin and Martin.”_ She split them, opening her own boot so that everyone could put their things away.

“ _Don't bore her too much Noll!”_ Madoka called out at him before getting into her own car, everyone else following suit.

Rolling his eyes Naru opened the door to the driver's side, slipping into his seat while Mai slipped into the passenger side.

It was silent for a moment while he fiddled with the mirrors and made sure that things were in place before pulling out.

After a few moments, Naru finally broke the silence, snapping Mai out of the daze that she'd fallen into watching the scenery go by and taking in the very different look of England to Japan.

“Mai.”

Turning to look at him, she tilted her head. “Yeah?”

Noll rolled his eyes slightly. “I was simply wondering about your academic process. You'll be at Cambridge as of a couple months from now. Do you know what kind of stipulations have been placed on you? I honestly didn't expect you to show this much interest in the subject.” He mused, a thought already running through his head.

The brunette thought for a moment trying to gather what she could remember from the process before putting it into words. “After you left, there was a little bit of time where I tried to decide if I really wanted to continue parapsychology as a study but when career choosing time came around and I still hadn't found anything else that I was interested in as a field of study so I decided to do a little bit of research and found myself getting interested in the different theories.”

There was a short shrug as if to say 'what can you do?' before she continued. “When I looked for places to study, Cambridge struck me as the best so I decided to see if they had any scholarship programs. I honestly didn't think I would make it in but with Yasu's help, I studied really hard and managed to write an application essay that I was happy with and sent it off. When the response from Cambridge came I was terrified to open it but when I did I was happy. I'd made it into the program. The entire course is covered by the school under my scholarship and my housing is supposed to be in the dormitories once we start. As a special exception, they're even allowing Yasu and I to start later than everyone under the basis of our different graduation times.”

Noll listened carefully, filing the information away for later purposes. “I'm assuming you have to keep your grades up to a certain degree for you to keep your scholarship as well correct?”

Nodding, Mai sighed. “I know it's going to be difficult but I'm excited.”

There was a certain level of happiness that Oliver also felt as her admission. Even though he'd never considered whether Mai would enjoy parapsychology on a theoretical level before, he couldn't help but find the idea appealing now. There was a lot of study that could be conducted based on her psychic experiences alone and he was sure that her entrance admission would have had to be good for things to be going so well.

He made a mental note to check it out later.

Before he could offer his potential services in helping her keep her grades up over the next couple years, he was cut of by a small shout of excitement before Mai covered her mouth.

“That's _not_ a house.” She whispered slightly in awe.

Noll rolled his eyes, smirking slightly. “It's a mansion Mai. Get used to it.”

“Jerk.”

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

_**A I don't even know how I screwed this up so badly in the original but having first hand international travel knowledge now definitely helps in this case. Narita airport is the airport that is most commonly used for international flights and it is not in central Tokyo. It's actually a little ways out and it depends on your mode of transportation as to how quickly you can get there. I used google maps to try and figure out a rough estimate for the time that it would take a car.** _

_**B I'm not sure how many of you guys are aware but just in case, in Japan there are a variety of different endings on names called honorifics that all imply something different. Some examples include 'kun' which is primarily used for males and usually implies a certain level of closeness (but not always) or 'chan' which usually refers to someone who is young or cute such as a younger sibling or a kindergartner. In this case, 'san' is probably the most common and it is used to refer to anyone (male or female) who you don't know well or who doesn't require a different honorific. (For example an upperclassmen wouldn't be 'san' they would be 'senpai' and a teacher definitely wouldn't be 'san' but would be 'sensei'). It is usually an addition to the surname.** _

_**C The actual length of time that it takes to study parapsychology is kind of unclear however I did a little bit of research and the most reputable of information I found stated that it would take around four years for the undergraduate degree that Mai is assumable going for. It would then be another two years to achieve a masters and then an additional two years for a PH.D. This is going to be what I use as a reference throughout the story from here on.** _

_**D According to google, the direct flight from Narita (Tokyo) to Heathrow (London) is approximately 11 hours and 40 minutes so I decided that 12 hours was a close enough estimate to how long they'd be on board normally however, when I tried to find a travel timeline, it also became clear that landing in Cambridge International Airport would make more sense since the university that Mai and Yasu will be attending is Cambridge and it's also where Martin lectures. So I took a look at the map and decided to add an extra couple of hours onto the flight time but this is a complete estimate.** _

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just as a note to you guys who have been reading this on AO3, you would have received a large number of updates in one hit just now so I apologise. I started updating regularly on Sundays 7 weeks ago, this Sunday being the 8th, but only over of FF.net. I completely forgot to upload them over here, thus the sudden number of updates. I apologise for this, but I hope you enjoy none-the-less. From now on I should remember to post them here but if I ever haven't, feel free to call me on it cause chances are I posted over on FF but forgot to over here.
> 
> Also, despite this being a re-write, there is of course still mistakes. I don't have a beta and often i need more of a break between writing and then editing to really pick up mistakes so if you see any, feel free to point them out to me. I will being going back to edit the current chapter over the next few weeks to fix them.

So here we go. This is the fourth chapter. This has been a work in progress for so long but real life has been more than a bit of a pain. I actually spent the better part of last year and the entire beginning of this year preparing to move out and now it's finally over and I have a space of my own to work on writing so you can expect these more frequently. I have however decided to start writing ahead for you guys because of my unpredictability so far. From now on I'm going to put out chapters every Sunday, my time and there will likely be several of them written ahead of time in order to keep this schedule going. Here's to hoping that this works out better for things.

 

 

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Ghost Hunt

**Chapter Key:**

“Japanese Speaking”

“ _English Speaking”_

_'Thinking'_

**Chapter Four**

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

When the car stopped Mai couldn't help but stare in amazement at everything, body frozen in her seat. The building in front of her was old looking but in the nicest of ways. There was something about it that reminded her of the palaces she used to see in fairy tales with the way the vines crawled over a small section of the brickwork and the gardens she could see surrounding the secluded area they were in.

“Stop gawking and get out already.” Noll teased, opening his own door and getting out, heading to the boot to grab Mai's things while she shook herself from her stupor.

“It's not my fault that I've never seen something like this before.” She defended herself hotly as she finally opened the door and walked over to grab her stuff from Naru.

Looking over at the group of mismatched people a little bit away, Mai pulled her suitcase over to Bou-san to rant about how everything looked.

“Are you seeing what I'm seeing?” He asked, voice somewhat dazed as he stared in front of him.

Nodding slightly, Mai couldn't help but twirl around as she admired her surroundings. There was a peaceful feeling in the air, almost like the plant life that was in this area was happy and alive. It was different to anything that she'd ever felt before and she wasn't sure how to describe it as she looked over at the monk.

For some reason, it seemed like none of them could tell the difference in the air despite how palpable it was to her though so it was easy decision to just leave the concept alone and keep it to herself for now. If she got a chance with Naru alone then maybe she would ask him if he knows anything about it.

The brunette felt her body flush with anger when she thought of the possibility of him telling her it was just an “animal instinct” as well.

As if sensing Mai's situation, Yasu glanced over and rolled his eyes as the familiar sight of the brunette working herself up over nothing because she'd gotten too caught up in her thoughts.

It didn't even take him a moment to decide what the easiest solution would be. Making his way over to his favourite monk, he grinned as made to throw his arms around the other man's body. “My love! Are you seeing the same thing that I am?” He exclaimed loudly with as much drama as he could muster. “Don't you worry, one day our love will be recognised and we too can live in a mansion just like this one!”

The monk flailed against him almost instantly in an attempt to escape out of the younger man's surprisingly strong grip.

“Would you let go of me you weirdo?!” He shouted, “I don't love you!”

The pout formed on his face before Yasu even had a chance to think of it as he let the other go and quickly moved over to Mai instead.

“Mai-chan! Tell Bou-san that our love knows no bounds! His words wound be so much and I'm not sure if I can live through the heartbreak if he doesn't take back his cruel words.” He pretended to cry on her shoulder, resting his full weight on her for added dramatics.

On cue, Mai instantly began to pet his head in fake consolidation. “I'm sorry Yasu. Allow me to comfort you from this pain. His words mean naught for I swear it's merely his fear of society talking. He loves you truly, do not worry.” She proclaimed easily, more than accustomed to their “act” by now.

She would have continued had it not been for the (expected) thwack from Ayako's bag coming down on Yasu's head harshly and then lightly on her own.

“That's quite enough out of you two. I don't appreciate the acting, much less encourage it, so stop acting ridiculous so that we can move this along. Not to be rude but it's been a rather long flight and I'd much rather get inside as soon as possible.” Ayako insisted, looking over at Madoka with a pointed look.

Shaken from her own amusement, (as well as Lin and Noll's, no matter how subtle they thought they were being), Madoka nodded in agreement.

“Of course. Sorry, come right on in.” She insisted, starting up the stairs and opening the door up for them to file on through.

Upon entering the house, Mai wasn't sure what she liked more about this place. The outside or the inside.

Looking around, the place practically sparkled, high ceilings made of beautiful dark wood and soft sweeping lines. Immediately she also noticed the regal looking staircase in front of them and couldn't help feeling a little bit like a princess out of a fairytale.

Between the staircases that ran on either side, their was a couple steps before there was a set of french doors as well as a door under either side of the staircases.

Unable to help herself, Mai wondered over to the stairs and touched the cool wood that made up the decorated banisters in awe. This was by far the nicest place that she'd ever been and there was a small part of her that screamed for her leave. She was an orphan, this was surely the last place she'd expected to ever end up.

Shaking those thoughts away from her head, head moving like they were a physical issue and not one of the mind, she glanced at the others to see them waiting on her once more.

Flushing slightly, she smiled sheepishly causing Naru to roll his eyes at her before he started off to the left of the house.

Rolling her eyes at Noll's behaviour, Madoka motioned for them to follow him. “I'll go let the professor know that we've arrived.” She told them, turning to walk in the opposite direction.

Sighing, the group began following Naru, stopping in front of another large wooden door while Naru opened it before moving in to sit down to the right of the head of the large table the occupied most of the room. “This room in our primary meeting room. My father will join us shortly to discuss the details of the case I brought you in for.” He informed them, pulling out his black notebook.

Shaking his head, Lin took a seat across from Naru and left the others to figure out where they were going to sit.

Glancing around the room Mai quickly decided that she didn't want to be stuck next to most of the people in the room and took a seat next to Naru in the hopes that his glare at anyone too close to him would stop them from making complete idiots out of them in front of her to be professor. _'Not that Naru knows that yet...'_

Seeing his chance, Bou-san immediately took the seat next to her, grinning at the eye-roll he got from Ayako as she sat down next to him.

Pouting in a show of mock disappointment, Yasu made his way over to Lin's side of the table and took the seat directly across from Mai, leaving room for Madoka when she got back.

John immediately followed suit with Masako trailing after him.

They had just managed to finish seating themselves when Madoka walked back in with a wide grin on her face, the older man trailing directly behind her.

Taking the seat that was obviously left for her next Yasu, they waited as Martin seated himself at the head of the table.

Despite it not being the first time they'd met, Mai took a moment to observe him. Her instincts said that he was definitely a nice person even though he may seem grumpy from first glance. Moving her eyes over to Naru and then back to Professor Davis, she couldn't help but enjoy the resemblance. Not in the physical attributes, they were nothing alike in that manner, but rather in the way that they held themselves.

Looking back to Martin before anyone caught her thoughts wandering, she waited patiently for him to tell them why exactly they were here.

“ _Are all of you fluent in English?”_ Martin asked, clearing his throat slightly as he looked around the room.

Mai smiled, nodding at him. _“Everyone here speaks English on a decent enough level Professor Davis.”_ She assured him easily. For a moment she was glad that Bou-san had opted to learn English as well while she was so that none of them were left out.

For some reason the man seemed a little shocked that she'd spoken to him before nodding and giving her the smallest of smiles in thanks.

“ _That will definitely make things a lot easier.”_ Martin noted before he took a moment organise the papers that Mai only just noticed in front of him.

“ _Recently, a friend of mine and Luella's moved out of central London into a country mansion in order to have some peace and quiet. Almost immediately after moving in, the youngest, Megan, reported hearing the screams and crying of another teenage girl at night even though she's the only one in the house. Then another spirit appeared. Gwendolyn's daughter started seeing a young man around the place. It was only a matter of time before he got violent. She's woken up to him trying to choke her to death twice and refuses to be inside the house anymore. They were all packing up to get out of the house after the spirit got violent but just as they were leaving this morning, the male spirit appeared and Megan is now missing.”_

Passing the documents around so that everyone could get a look at them, Mai realised with a start that they were pictures of the house that Martin was talking about and of the injuries that had occurred so far.

Staring at the picture of the house, she couldn't help but imagine the house a little bit newer as flashes of her earlier dream began to come back to her. Flicking to the next pictures, she swallowed at the sight of familiar injuries. Moving through them quickly, she passed them along to Bou-san without another word, trying to fight back the images that were once more clouding her mind.

Watching her out the corner of his eye, Naru's eyebrows furrowed slightly at expression as she stopped on the image of the house before flicking through the pictures and passing it along to the others. Aware of how hard he was staring, Noll turned back to his father but kept the note to ask her if she knew anything before the meeting finished up.

When he noticed his father occupied, he leant slightly over to Mai's side. “Did you notice something?” He asked, voice low in an attempt not to get his father's attention.

He wasn't so lucky however as his father glance over and gave him an inquisitive look. _“Is something the matter Miss Taniyama?”_ He enquired noting her slightly pale expression.

Shaking some of the images from her head, Mai gave Martin the best smile she could muster. _“I'm not sure. I'll need to show Naru-I mean Oliver and see if he agrees but I think... I think I may know a couple things?”_ She informed, slightly flustered at being called out.

There was an eyebrow raise before Martin turned back to Lin for the moment and left her to fish a small royal blue notebook out of her handbag and flick open the pages until she came across her most recent entry from the other morning.

Wordlessly, she passed it along to Naru and waited to see what his reaction would be.

Looking down at the book in his hands, Noll was surprised to see that it was a detailed account of what appeared to be a dream laid out as well as a sketch below it that he could easily find resemblance to the other image he'd seen with. Scanning over the account, he was frustrated at the lack of kanji that he could understand but what he could make of it seemed like it matched up perfectly with what they knew of the house so far.

Nodding in approval, he handed it back over to Mai.

“It seems plausible.” He agreed easily.

Rolling her eyes slightly at his aloof acceptance, she turned back to the professor.

“ _On the day that Lin and N-Oliver came back to Japan I had one of my dreams. It was third person and I witnessed the abusive relationship between a man and his wife, and how it caused her death in front of their daughter. He was-”_ Mai stopped to turn to Naru, listing off the word for misogynistic in order to get a translation from him before nodding and repeating the word. _“He was misogynistic and believed that women were lesser. Some of it was hard to make out but i'm sure that the mother dies from being choked to death. Her name was Elizabeth Wadleigh.”_ She informed, trying not to leave any information out.

Normally she didn't need to verbalise her thoughts but when she wrote in her dream journal she was much too tired to focus on anything other than writing in Japanese so she had a feeling that she was going to have to get used to this. It wasn't like many people were going to be able to read it while she was studying here. If they ever needed too.

Lin and Naru immediately made some notes in their current case information while Madoka noted the name without complaint to look into later.

Letting out a hum of understanding, Martin focused his entire attention on the brunette.

“ _How do you know that this is definitely related to the case?”_ He inquired, always the sceptic. It hadn't escaped his attention that his best workers had already taken her at her word but he needed to make sure that they weren't slipping. People's lives were on the line after all.

Flushing, Mai held out her notebook with the drawing. “ _This is the house from in my dream. I remember almost exactly as the same in that photo. I just need Madoka to check the name to see if their was a history of it belonging to that family to be one hundred percent sure but my instincts are telling me that this is the case.”_ She insisted, no trace of doubt in her tone.

Nodding in acceptance of her answer, Martin glanced down at the notebook and was shocked to find that at the bottom where the sketch of the mansion was, laid an extremely close match to the mansion he'd just looked at images of.

Still, despite the eerie similarities, he still felt a little sceptical towards this girl. Oliver was rather closed off when it came to discussing his previous employees and co-workers so it was hard to understand where he was coming from a lot of the time.

Lin and Madoka had both spoken of them of course but even Lin seemed uncharacteristically tight lipped on the subject and Madoka never seemed to say anything of importance about them, only inconsequential tid-bits on their lives. It was all very frustrating.

Once more giving the girl his full attention as he handed back the notebook, he couldn't help the slightly incredulous tone his voice took on despite his best attempts.

“ _You're basing this mostly off of instinct then? Does this “instinct” tell you anything else of importance? If possible, could you also explain it further?”_ He inquired.

It was an odd feeling for Mai, being legitimately questioned about her abilities from a sceptic within the parapsychology field but she couldn't help but feel like it was going to become something frequent.

Before she could attempt to explain her abilities, Naru seemed to take pity on her.

“ _Mai has exhibited latent psychic abilities in the past on many cases that we worked together. Her instincts are usually extremely reliable.”_ He informed his father.

He tried to resolutely ignore the looks of surprise from the other's sitting at the table -and more specifically- the knowing look he was receiving from his mentor. What things were going through that girls head to cause her to look like that, Noll was sure he never wanted to learn.

Listening to the information, Martin nodded in acceptance. _“And more on the dreams? What can you tell me?”_

Once again, before Mai could answer for herself she found Lin speaking on her behalf to explain things. _“Mai frequently had post-cognitive dreams on or about cases that often helped us to gain an understanding of what was happening in a home. She has also exhibited a capability in astral projection in the past as well. It can all be found in the written reports for the Japan branch of SPR.”_ He explained with ease, keeping the explanation brief in an attempt to quell the interest Martin seemed to be showing.

Almost like reading his mind, Martin gave the brunette a thoughtful look. _“I don't suppose that you find yourself in a position to run a few tests?”_ He inquired, the scientist in him running through a variety of different ways that they could test this girl's abilities.

A brief look of surprise came over Mai's face before she seemed to consider it for a moment.

Frowning slightly at her reaction, Naru turned away to face his father instead, silently fuming at the thought that he would ask such a thing.

“ _I would ask that you don't make such suggestions father.”_ He stated, carefully crafting his words and finding himself relieved from the nods he received from Lin who appeared to be of the same opinion.

Blinking in surprise, Martin couldn't help but flick his eyes back and forwards between them before focussing on Mai. _“But surely you wish to test at least a couple things and find out more about her abilities? There are not nearly enough with similar abilities in parapsychology that we have the chance to gain an understanding from.”_ He couldn't help but insist, confusion clear in his tone.

Before either of them could open their mouths to speak further on her behalf however, Mai finally managed to shake herself from the thoughts that were currently running through her mind.

Although she had thought to test her abilities at one point, something about the way that both Lin and Naru had immediately spoken up for her made her wary. Between that and the more recent changes she could feel in her spiritual energy, she wasn't nearly as inclined as she might have been only six months ago.

“While I appreciate the sentiment, if you could refrain from answering on my behalf _Oliver_ then that would be much appreciated.” The brunette muttered, rolling her eyes at the glare she got in response while she turned her attention back to Martin.

“ _While I'm certainly grateful for the offer, I'm afraid that I have to decline. There are far too many things to consider before throwing myself into the kind of testing I'm sure that you're suggesting and this is hardly the time to be thinking on such things. You'll just have to satisfy your curiosity with the case notes that Oliver has from my time with SPR and after this case is over, I may be able to find some of our newer case notes for you as well instead?”_ She offered, voice trailing a little uncertainly after her little speech.

Sighing in disappointment, Martin nodded to her suggestions. _“I suppose that is very true. We can speak more on the subject later then.”_ He acquiesced. _“However if you change your mind at all...”_

Mai smiled warmly at him. _“I'll be sure to let you know first.”_ She agreed without prompting before amending herself at the glare Naru gave her. _“Second.”_

Martin chuckled a little but before he could say otherwise there was a knock on the door before it swung open without prompting to reveal Luella.

“ _I don't suppose you lot have finally finished up, have you? It's gotten late and you still need to rest up before tomorrow's no doubt eventful day.”_ She insisted without waiting for a single reply.

Seemingly unaware that they both made for the same motion, Naru and Martin both found themselves pinching the bridge of their noses at the same time in what was probably a fruitless endeavour to avoid an oncoming headache, much to the amusement of Mai as she found herself once more subject to just how similar the two of them appeared to be.

“ _Hello mother.”_ Naru greeted without waiting to be prompted.

As though she hadn't noticed the annoyance in his tone, Luella eagerly turned to her son, grinning. _“Oh Noll, we haven't even had a chance to catch up since we got back since your father stole you away so quickly. Are you well? Did you eat enough while in Japan? I hope you weren't working too hard.”_ She rattled off without waiting for a single response before turning to Lin. _“You were keeping an eye on him weren't you?”_

There was faint amusement on Lin's face as he nodded. _“I assure you that Noll did not work too hard and that he ate plenty while he was away.”_ He promised, inwardly thankful that for once it had not been a lie.

From beside her, Naru merely rolled his eyes at her fussing and pushed his chair back, getting ready to leave the room now that nothing immediate held his attention any more.

Amused at his son's reaction, Martin gave his wife an indulgent look. _“I don't suppose you came looking for us for a specific reason, dear?”_

As if only just remembering her reasoning, the blonde haired woman perked up even more. _“Oh of course. I was coming to inform you all that dinner will be in a little under an hour so now is a good chance to go settle into some rooms and freshen up. I imagine it's been a rather tiring day so far.”_

Smiling at her in relief, Ayako couldn't help be thankful for the option. She at least, felt like there was a thin layer of dirt covering every part of her body and she wouldn't be against a bath of any kind.

“ _That sounds wonderful, thank you.”_ She expressed.

As if her response had finally prompted them from their stupor triggered by the sudden presence of the lively woman, a resounding sentiment came from the other sitting in the room causing Luella to laugh lightly.

“ _You're very welcome. Come along and I can show you to the rooms you can stay the night in.”_ She proposed, stepping back out into the hallway without waiting for a response.

It didn't take long for them all to follow suit, pushing themselves away from the table, eager to get somewhere to tidy up before they filled their stomachs.

When she was satisfied that all of them were following her, Luella made her way down the halls and back to the staircases that they'd seen earlier before leading them up and to the left with all the ease and grace of a well-off woman despite her more childlike demeanour.

Coming to a stop only a few doors down, she waved towards the row. _“These guest rooms have all be prepared for you all to use. You're welcome to choose any of them.”_ She informed them cheerfully. _“I'll send one of the maids to let you know when dinner is ready and she can show you the way to the dinning room.”_

No sooner than everyone had once more relayed their thanks did they all start filing into the rooms.

Just as Mai made to go to a room as well she found her arm caught between a familiar grip.

Turning to look at Naru, she couldn't help but tilt her head in confusion. “Naru?”

“I have a different room for you to stay in.” He informed, slipping back into Japanese purely out of habit.

As if on cue, Mai's eyebrows drew together in a clear show of confusion.

“What do you mean?”

Without explaining further, Naru merely began to drag her back the way they had come from ignoring the look from his mother.

“Naru?!”

 


	5. Chapter 5

Back on time with yet another chapter! Reading through the reviews made me realise just how much this fandom has changed since I started the original copy of this story years ago. If I'd rewritten back then a lot of you guys would have had the spoilers for some of the original plot twists. If you guys haven't read the original then it does exist but I wouldn't recommend it because any spoilers you're hoping for would be terribly written and might not even exist in the new version. Never the less, I hope you guys enjoy this next chapter! There's a lot Luella's point of view explored in this chapter so be sure to let me know how you feel about it!

 

 

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Ghost Hunt

**Chapter Key:**

“English Speaking”

“ _Japanese Speaking”_

_'Thinking'_

**Chapter Five**

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When her call for him to answer her went unanswered – not that it was a shock – Mai resigned herself to her fate, her legs doing their best to move as quick as Naru seemed intent to despite the difference in length.

Thankfully, before Mai could manage to fall – despite the close call that did _not_ happen on the next flight of stairs if Naru would stop smirking at her! - they eventually arrived at a door that for some reason seemed familiar to Mai, though she couldn't fathom why that would be. It wasn't like she'd ever been in a house even remotely similar to this one, let alone in this exact one.

“ _If I ask you where we are, will you give me a straight answer?”_ Mai asked, looking over at Naru, still slightly annoyed but more curious now that they were stopped.

Rolling his eyes, Naru stepped forwards and opened the door. _“I'm sure you'll figure it out.”_

Waiting a beat, the brunette looked at Naru for a second before sighing and stepping through the door, into the bedroom.

The first thing she noticed was the picture of Gene and Naru next to each other sitting on one of the bedside tables next to the double bed in the middle of the room.

Scanning the rest of the room, she felt her eyes close when the spiritual energy from the air in the room found its way into her senses.

Without warning she could feel the corner of her eyes prickling with the sudden need to cry with the amount of melancholy flooding her in that moment.

“ _This was Gene's room. I'd like to offer it to you for the duration of your stay.”_ Naru informed, voice oddly stiff as he debated over himself.

He'd known what he was doing when he dragged Mai up here. There had been an argument with his mother originally but he'd won in the end and she'd let him offer Gene's room to her.

Mostly he'd actually wanted her close to him and thought that seeing Gene's old room would bring the brunette a sense of comfort. The tears weren't that shocking though.

“ _A-are you sure it's okay? I don't want to intrude. This room obviously has a lot of precious memories for you...”_ Mai managed to get out, voice slightly thick as salt water fell from her eyes in thin lines.

Unsure of what to do to help Mai, Naru felt himself wincing as his mind went on autopilot. _“Do you think that I would've offered if it was a problem?”_ He asked, voice disbelieving.

Despite him berating himself for the harsh words, Naru was shocked at the chocked laugh that left Mai's throat before she turned around to smile at him.

“ _You're right. How dumb of me.”_ She commented, tears slowing down at the sense of normality she was getting, washing away the suffocating amount of melancholy from everywhere else in the room.

Naru made a show of rolling his eyes at her, lips tugging into a slight smirk. _“It's not like I'm unused to you being dumb.”_

The indignant squawk that Mai let out made him smirk further. She may have changed but there were some things that always stayed the same.

“ _You narcissistic bastard.”_

Satisfied now that she wasn't crying any more, Naru just turned around and stepped out of the room. _“Make sure that you're ready for dinner in an hour. My room is right next to yours and I'll be coming to grab you.”_ He informed her as he shut the door behind himself to give her space.

She really hadn't changed that much at all.

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When the door finally shut behind Naru, Mai let out a loud breath and feeling the tension leave her body. Even though all she'd done was sit around and sleep all day, she couldn't help but feel worse than when she ran a marathon. It was ridiculous but not that surprising.

With how strong everything felt to her, she wasn't sure how she was going to sleep. That said, hopefully being in Gene's room would make it easier for him to relocate her spiritual energy. Making such a big trip meant that it was sure to disrupt the wave length that they usually communicated from. When he bothered to turn up that is.

Sighing, the brunette turned to her suitcase and proceeded to pull out a new shirt and shorts, determined to look less like the wreck that she currently was. Grabbing her towel and toiletries, she made her way over to the adjoining bathroom to wash up before dinner.

It didn't take long and immediately after she was feeling better. Checking the time, Mai couldn't help but sigh when she noticed that she still half an hour before they were due to head down to dinner.

As her eyes fell on the bed, Mai couldn't help the debate that ran through her mind. _'I'm sure Naru won't be too surprised if he has to wake me up from a nap. Not like it's the first time'_ She thought, deciding that the benefits of some more sleep far out weighed Naru's irritation.

Settling herself onto the sheets, she pulled the covers over herself and found herself falling asleep straight away, exhaustion hitting hard.

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_Unfortunately for Mai, not long after she fell asleep she found herself standing in familiar darkness, not a trace of Gene's spirit near her own – much to the ever growing annoyance she was feeling. The stupid medium was always around when she didn't need him but now that she was off balance and unsure of course he's completely disappeared._

_Despite her irritation, there wasn't much else that the brunette could do except turn back to the scene that she was about to see. Within seconds her dream-scape warped and she found herself in an unfamiliar body standing inside a dark room._

'Of course my luck couldn't last.' _She thought with resignation as she surveyed her surroundings to the best of her ability._

 _It was then that she noticed that her hands were moving._ 'Pay attention, Mai!' _She scolded herself, completely focussing herself once more on what was happening._

_Kneeling on the ground Mai watched as she began to apply antiseptic to some wounds before moving to bandage them up carefully. “Mother, you really need to avoid angering father like that. It only ends up with you getting hurt.” She heard herself say._

_Mai saddened at the complete resignation that she heard in the voice as she spoke. Clearly this was a common occurrence._

_The woman – her mother – smiled slightly at her but it was more of a grimace. That wasn't surprising considering the injuries that she was sporting at current. “Bianca honey, I have to stand up to him. I can't keep letting him do this to you.” She insisted._

_Making a mental note of the name to add to her dream journal, Mai felt the body she was in go cold as the door opened and slither of extra light made its way into the darkness. Turning her head slightly, she wasn't shocked to see the man from her first dream standing there, face twisted into a cruel smirk._

_Walking over, Mai didn't bother to fight as she felt herself pushed away from her mother, body tense on instinct as she hit the ground harshly on her shoulder, wincing but refusing to make a noise and give him the satisfaction._

“ _Foolish woman. Learn your place.” He sneered, aiming a kick at her mother's ribs before turning around and storming away, door slamming shut and then locking only seconds later._

_Feeling the beginning of her body starting to wake up, Mai closed her eyes and let her body pull her back into the normal plane of existence, completely relaxing as she felt herself re-enter her body._

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Pushing down the instinct to sit up straight away, Mai breathed for a moment and let herself re-adjust to being in an actual body before opening her eyes and slowly forcing her body into a sitting position. Almost immediately she felt the shoulder she'd fallen on during the dream throb slightly. Grabbing her dream journal, she immediately started to write down everything that she's learnt before she focused on anything else.

Reaching over to place her journal down on the bedside table and grab her phone from where she left it she blinked in surprise at how late it was. She was supposed to be down at dinner thirty minutes ago!

 _'Why didn't Naru come grab me like he said he would?!'_ She internally screeched, jumping out of bed quickly only to fall back onto the mattress when a wave of dizziness came over her.

Rolling her eyes at her own stressing, she breathed in deeply and then relaxed. Carefully this time, she pushed herself off the bed, ignoring the twinge of pain and carefully pressing out some of the wrinkles in her clothing.

Padding over to the ensuite, she checked herself and carefully fixed herself up so that you she seemed normal. As soon as her eyes fell on the bruise on her arm though, her eyes widened. How the hell was she supposed to hide that?

Breathing carefully, she fought not to freak out again. _'It's fine. All I have to do is play dumb and they'll just think I was clumsy again.'_ She reasoned.

Nodding like she was agreeing with herself, she smiled brightly. “Yosh! Let's do this.”

Leaving the room, she couldn't help but face palm when she entered the hallway and realised that she had no idea where to go.

Groaning, the brunette closed her eyes and fought to reach around the numerous emotions in the house until she could sense the familiar presence of her friends.

Smiling triumphantly, Mai began to walk slowly down to what she assumed was the dining room, taking care not to trigger any lasting dizziness.

It didn't take long before she reach the large oak doors that would lead to the others.

Swallowing and taking a deep breath, she placed a smile on her face before pushing the door open.

Almost instantly, everyone's eyes turned to her and the conversation that was happening came to an ubrupt halt.

Bou-san grinned at the familiar sight of Mai. “Look who decided to finally join us.” He teased gently.

Smiling properly at him, she couldn't help but feel a little bit sheepish. “Sorry. I went to take a nap and well... as you can tell I only just woke up.” She apologised.

Luella shook her head straight away at the young girl, her heart feeling warm as she waved for her to take a seat between Yasu and Noll. “Nonsense, you have nothing to apologise for. We considered waking you up so you wouldn't miss out but Noll insisted on letting you sleep.” She informed.

It had been a great shock to the blonde to watch as her usually completely impartial son told them in no uncertain terms that they were to leave Mai to sleep. He would grab her later if she didn't wander down on her own later.

Not that she was complaining. Despite their best attempts, Noll had never quite developed the same compassion for others. He was by no means a robot but still... she was sure that if this was anyone else, he would've just gone in and woken them up with irritation.

It was a nice change, even if it was jarring.

What was more shocking was the lack of care from the others when they were informed that. Noll was purposefully putting himself in a position where he would have to put in more effort for someone without hesitation and no-one seemed to think it was odd. Not even Lin had been shocked by the situation!

Which was how Luella found herself turning to the girl that had Noll acting strangely and starting up a conversation with her. There was definitely some things that she needed to figure out and there was no way that Noll was going to give her any more information then what she'd already deduced.

Just as she was about to ask Mai about herself, the older woman couldn't help but notice a bruise formed on the girls shoulder. “Oh my... what happened there?” She asked, voice concerned as she traced the yellowing and purpling lines that looked extremely painful.

This question seemed to trigger an immediate response from the table as they all turned to Mai instantly, various questions being shouted from one end of the table to her.

Mai winced at the noise, shaking her head at them. _“For the love of... Shut up! How am I supposed to answer you when I can't even tell who's yelling at me?”_ She shouted in irritation, voice drowning them out as they quietened at the sudden Japanese demand.

Taking a deep breath, she ignored the look she could feel from Naru as she focused on Luella first. It was terrible, but she found it easier to lie looking at her and knowing that she didn't know her. There was also something comforting about her aura. Motherly in a way she hadn't had in years.

Shaking her head of those thoughts, she focused on the task at hand. _'No need to get depressed now, Mai.'_ She scolded herself.

“It's nothing Mrs Davis. I had one of _those_ dreams when I tried to sleep before and when I woke up of fell onto the floor and landed on my shoulder. I'm a bit of a klutz.” Mai admitted sheepishly, fighting the urge to scratch at the back of her neck as her hand played with the hem of her shirt.

Luella looked around the table to gauge the rest of the reactions and found that almost everyone else was rolling their eyes at her story.

“Does this happen... a lot?” She inquired cautiously, unsure from their now unworried reactions.

Yasu next to her snorted. “It would happen more often if it weren't for the fact that Mai still sleeps on a traditional _futon_ back in Japan. There isn't much of a height _to_ fall from.” He informed easily, snickering along with the rest of the table.

Glaring at him, Mai huffed but didn't bother to dispute the claim because her best friend had just unknowingly helped her case.

“If you're sure...” Luella trailed off.

Mai nodded. “Perfectly. I'll have Ayako take a look later if that'll make you more at ease but this really isn't uncommon. I'm injured more often then not.” She informed.

Before Luella could inquire any further, Naru cut her off. “You had another dream about the case?” He inquired, eyebrows creased slightly. That was a lot of information before they'd even made it to location. He'd need to ask Mai more about her powers. There was obviously a few things that he'd missed while they were apart.

He'd add it to the list along with why Mai had just lied. It wasn't obvious and she had everyone else fooled but Oliver wasn't just _anybody_. And he wasn't about to fall for that trick.

It was even more concerning that Mai _could_ lie well. Last that he'd checked she'd been terrible at it. This was another development to learn about.

Mai rolled her eyes at Naru's immediate question. “Are you okay Mai? Did you break anything Mai? How could you be so stupid Mai? Thanks for your concern Naru.” She commented, voice sarcastic even if it was clear that she didn't actually care that he hadn't asked.

Naru pinched the bridge of his nose at her response. “I thought that we'd just established that you were fine. What reason to I have to rehash a conversation from only minutes ago? That's a complete waste of my time.” He informed, voice completely dead pan as she grew red out of anger, eyes glaring instantly while he smirked.

“Why you-”

Before she could get going, Martin spoke in an attempt to avoid whatever argument was about to occur, much to Naru's disappointment. Mai's reactions were always enetertaining.

“How about you tell us about that nickname you keep calling Noll by? I'm curious as to how it came about since I've heard everyone say it at this point.”

Blinking in surprise as her anger suddenly dissipated, she flushed slightly. Tilting her head, she thought about it.

“When I first me Naru he was always being super rude and narcissistic so I came up with the nickname Naru, a shortened version of narcissist. Knowing that you guys call him Noll though means that it probably terrified him at first because Noll in Japanese is pronounced Naru. Anyway, I'm getting off track. After I started calling him that, it sort of stuck. Everyone called him that, including Lin.” She informed, voice fond as she thought back on the memories.

Said raven in question scoffed to hide his soft expression. “It's a ridiculous nickname.” He insisted.

No-one paid any attention to him as Martin chuckled. “Well it certainly suits him.” He agreed easily.

 _'Gene agrees too.'_ Mai added mentally, grinning slightly.

Finally Mai managed to fill her plate up with various options on the table and eat, chattering along with the rest of them.

When dinner came to an end an hour later, they all moved into one of the sitting rooms further down the hall, settling down into the chairs.

Turning to Mai, Naru reiterated his earlier question. “You had a dream earlier?”

Nodding, the brunette gave him and Martin her full attention. “It was definitely the same family, the man and the woman were the same. I was their daughter whose name was Bianca and we were in some kind of room. There wasn't any windows and I remember feeling trapped, like it was a personal prison. I was tending to my mother's wounds helping her out when he came in and pushed me away from her. He kicked 'my mother' and then stormed out again calling her a foolish woman and talking about “knowing your place” again.” She shuddered slightly at the memory, a feeling on anger washing over her again.

Even if she couldn't do anything about it, part of her really wanted to knock that guy down a couple of pegs.

Taking notes down in his own black notebook along with his father, Naru looked at her suspiciously. “Are you leaving anything out?”

Mai huffed at the accusation. “I'm telling you what I can remember about it off the top of my head. You can read the journal entry later if you're that interested but I don't know how much good it'll do you.” She scoffed, glaring at him as she referenced his inability to read kanji well.

Glaring back, Naru scoffed. “I'm just make sure. You seemed to always manage to leave out important details before.” He informed, eyebrow twitching.

Flushing in anger, Mai felt herself flare up. “Sorry that I can't remember to tell you guys everything after draining my energy finding information to help you on cases. I can't help it if I don't always remember everything straight away.” She threw back glaring.

“You should be sorry.” He threw back instantly, smirking as he rage grew.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Across from them, Luella and Martin couldn't believe their eyes as they watched the most emotion they'd seen from Noll in months happen from this small brunette that hadn't caught much of their attention outside of being severely misplaced between all the other's they had met.

“Is this... normal?” Luella asked Lin, turning to him with a mystified look as she kept her voice quiet enough for them to not over hear. Not that it mattered, they seemed to be off in their own world as Noll continued to bait her further and watch as the poor girl got even more red with anger.

At first she'd thought to interrupt but everyone else seemed to content to just let it play out so she'd opted to follow their lead.

Fighting off a chuckle, Lin looked over at Mai with fondness -and not that they were questioning Lin, he wasn't nearly as bad as Noll, but that was such a rare sight as well- and shrugged slightly.

“This is what a normal day at JSPR looked like.” He informed them simply, always a man of few words.

Luella wanted to argue against how healthy this was as a relationship of any kind but the look in her son's eyes prevented her from asking for more details. There wasn't much but her mother's eye could find that spark of interest anywhere.

Ever since Noll had come back from Japan it had been so hard for him to find enjoyment or interest in anything. He spent all of his days in his office researching and working on academic stuff. That in and of its self wasn't that unusual but the fact that even BSPR cases hadn't ignited any excitement was concerning.

So when this most recent case had come up and they'd tried to entice him with the option of his own team, Luella and Martin had both been shocked at the request to bring in the people he'd worked with while in Japan.

Trying to get information about his time in Japan out of Noll was almost impossible so it was quite a gamble they took in accepting his offer. But there was something in his eyes when he'd make the request that had made her insist that Martin accept and looking over the group now she could honestly say she was glad that they had.

It was one thing to hear about how different Noll had been in Japan from Madoka -with a little input from Lin- but watching him now she knew that they hadn't exaggerated. For the first time in ages her son was _living_ and not just going through the motions. If this was the response that bringing them here got, Luella would pay for many more flights. Her son's happiness was worth every last one of them.

Shaking away from her thoughts she smiled at the scene as Mai now sat next to her son pouting while he simply looked smug.

Seeing an opening, Martin cut in before they could start another argument.

“So, Mai, can you tell us more about you abilities. I'd love to learn more about what you can do and I'm sure Noll would love to hear about how your abilities have grown over the last year.”

Mai brightened at the reminder about her abilities. “Of course. It might take a little longer than we have left tonight to go into the type of details that you're after.” She explained, her teeth moving to chew on her lip automatically as she thought about what to tell them all.

Martin smiled in what he hoped was an encouraging manner. “That's fine. Hopefully we'll have enough time to discuss them further after the case.” He pointed out.

From his right, Yasu shrugged, finger pushing up his glasses so that the light reflected off them. “Even if the other's aren't here for it, Mai and I have plenty of time to discuss them further with you. We'll be here for at least another three years after all.” He informed.

That caught Martin and Luella by surprise for a moment as he blinked at the new information.

Hitting her head lightly, Mai giggled. “Of course. Yasu and I are actually studying parapsychology here in England. We start up with the new term in a few months.” She informed. “I can't believe that it hadn't come up yet.”

Naru smirked. “See. _Forgetful_.” He scoffed, voice low enough for only her to hear.

Directing a kick at his leg beside her, she huffed. _“Shut it narcissist.”_

Martin coughed. “While I'm certainly glad to hear that, perhaps we should get back to the question at hand. Even just a basic run down on your abilities would be perfect to help me understand more. Then I can research a little more and get back to you with various questions, if you're amenable?”

Nodding, Mai smiled at him. “Of course. I'll start with the absolute basics. I identify as a latent psychic with ESP, post-cognitive dreams and astral projection as my main abilities.” She informed, thinking a little on the subject to figure out what else to say.

“Usually on cases, I rely on my instinct as mentioned earlier. They've never steered me wrong and they are the probably the ability I use most next to my post-cognitive dreams. As far my dreams go, when I sleep I find myself experiencing visions of spirit's past lives. Sometimes these take a third person point of view and I watch from the side lines like mentioned in the first dream I had for this case. Sometimes though they take the form of a first person dream like earlier. In these dreams I experience the same thing that the spirit did during life.” She informed, taking a deep breath before continuing while Martin took notes.

“Astral projection is pretty self explanatory. I don't use it too often because of the risk leaving my body provides but if I feel like I need to, I can consciously force my spirit to leave my body. I've only done it a few times though.” Mai continued.

Martin nodded as he took down notes. “Is there anything else on a basic run down that you can give me as far as your abilities go?” He inquired.

Naru watched her closely as she began to fidget with the hem on her shirt. “There are a couple more things but I'm not sure I have enough energy to do them a very good explanation right now.” She informed him carefully.

Narrowing his eyes, Naru added that to his mental list as well. So many things to ask her about and no time to do it.

As if on cue, his mother started fussing with her. “Poor girl, you must be exhausted. Leave the interrogating to another day boys. It's high time everyone got some rest. You all have a long day tomorrow.” She informed them in a no nonsense tone.

Rolling his eyes, he resisted the urge to glare at his mother.

“Very well. We can pick this back up again after the case is solved.” Martin agreed, unwilling to argue with his wife on the subject.

Sighing, Naru stood up and turned to Mai. “I'll walk you back to your room then.” He informed her before nodding to his father.

“Good night mother.” He addressed her before turning to everyone else. “We leave here at six in the morning for a two hour drive. Be awake at five.”

Without waiting on an answer, he immediately left the room.

 


	6. Chapter 6

Three weeks in a row! Let's hope it keeps up! Especially since as of this chapter, we can finally begin the first case Mai experiences in England! It's also a bit longer because I had some much to write for it to be able to make it to the case and even then I really didn't get too far with the different plot points I have for this case. I realise that it might seem a little long winded but I find that personally, my writing style has evolved to something that rushes less of the plot and makes time for the moments in between. Hopefully you guys don't mind. Make sure you check the chapter key cause English and Japanese are switched this time around. Also, I don't think I've mentioned it before but if you guys have ideas of moments that you would like to see between any of the characters (not even necessarily romantic) or any ideas for cases, I would love to hear them! You will of course be fully credited for anything you suggest that I use.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Ghost Hunt

**Chapter Key:**

“English Speaking”

“ _Japanese Speaking”_

_'Thinking'_

**Chapter Six**

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

Watching as he left the room, Mai blinked in shock before turned to everyone and smiling quickly. “Good night.” She offered before turning around and racing off to catch up with Naru. _“Naru you Jerk! You could've waited a minute for me!”_ She huffed, glaring as she finally managed to catch up to him.

Oliver merely raised an eyebrow as he glanced over at her. _“You seem to have managed just fine regardless.”_

Staring at him with her mouth wide open she couldn't help but stamp her foot angrily at the response. _“Why do you have to be so mean?”_ She whined, throwing her hands up in exasperation. The brunette didn't even know why she was bothering at this point. He would just ignore her point and rile her up instead and now that she wasn't surrounded by everyone, she could feel exhaustion setting in.

Glancing over at Mai, Naru was a little worried as she left it at that and didn't make any further complaints about the situation. A quick scan of her face revealed how tired she must be. There were bags under her eyes that indicated a lack of proper sleep and he couldn't help but sigh internally.

“ _Is there anything else we should know about your abilities?”_ He asked after a moment, focussing on the stairs in front of them with an eye on Mai just in case her body decided to give out on her. It wouldn't be the first time.

Mai thought about it for a moment, her sleep deprived mind searching for anything she knew that Naru needed to know and trying to figure out what things she'd decided he _never_ needed to know.

“ _Sensitivity.”_ She informed him sleepily, fighting to focus on the conversation and not how inviting the hallway looked as an option to just fall asleep on. _'The carpet looks plush. I've slept on worse.'_ She registered sleepily.

Moving a little closer to the brunette, Naru's eyebrows creased as he tried to figure out what Mai was trying to tell him. _“Your sensitivity to what? I'm assuming you mean that it's heightened.”_ He deduced.

Blinking Mai nodded slightly. _“I'm super sensitive to emotions and spirits. I can just feel things. Like here. Everything here is so sad inside.”_ She mumbled.

This only confused Naru more before it all clicked in place. _“You can feel the emotions that linger where you are. And since we're still mourning... you can feel how sad it is.”_ He concluded carefully.

Now that he was actually getting somewhere with his interrogation, he suddenly wasn't so eager to make it to their rooms. Even though part of him felt guilty that he was essentially taking advantage of her exhaustion, the more logical part of him knew that if she was more awake he wouldn't be getting anywhere.

Mai had been surprisingly tight-lipped on the subject of her power thus far and he was shocked he had gotten this much out of her even with her fatigue.

Mai hummed in answer to his previous question. _“It's exhausting. Negative emotions are hard to block out and it takes a lot out of me to put up a mental shield against them. 's why 'm so sleepy. Well that and the stupid dreams. I don't wanna dream Naru. Tired.”_ She revealed, body tilting towards the wall.

Quickly Naru moved to place his arm around her and lean him back towards his body instead as they approached the door to Gene's old room.

Carefully he opened the door for Mai and led her over to the bed, settling her there and watching as she immediately climbed under the covers. _“Thanks Naru. You're being surprisingly nice for once. Are you sure I'm not already dreaming?”_ She asked, sleepily looking up at him through her eyelashes.

Swallowing thickly, he shook his head ruefully. “If only.” He sighed. _“Just go to sleep Mai. You need to be up on time remember. I will wake you this time if you don't get up yourself.”_

Mai hummed. _“M'kay Naru. G'night.”_ She mumbled, eyes falling closed already.

Naru waited until he was sure she had fallen asleep before he moved to tuck the covers around her tighter. _'She looks cute like this.'_ He noted before shaking the thought from his head immediately.

 _'What the hell is that supposed to mean? You don't have time to be thinking of anyone as cute, let alone_ Mai. _'_ He scolded himself mentally.

Turning away, he quietly left the room, shutting the door lightly to avoid waking her up – not that he thought that was possible at this point.

Walking over to his own room, he sighed as he entered the simple looking room. It had never occurred to him before tonight how his room might appear to an outsider. It was merely a place to rest due to his bodies inability to go on continuously – much to his own disappointment.

However now, after seeing Gene's room again and how much more lived in it looked with Mai there, he found himself noticing how _cold_ it felt.

Shaking those thoughts from his mind, he sighed. There were more important things to consider then whether or not his room looked _lived in_ enough. Honestly, what had gotten into him.

Ignoring his mind's traitorous reply of Mai's name, he walked over to the large desk where he had a copy of the case file for tomorrow. He had long since memorised all of the important details, including the ones that Mai had provided them with, however he couldn't help but check them over once more.

There were many questions he wanted answers too and he hoped that this case would reveal some of them. If he were to assume that Mai's powers were more active during cases then that would be the time to collect more information.

He wasn't sure yet why Mai was keeping so much from them but he would figure it out one way or another. He was Oliver Davis. There was no way that Mai was going to out intellect him. No. Way.

Content with his own resolve, Noll placed the file back on his desk and made his way over to the bed to get some rest. Something told him that he'd need it.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

“-ai. Mai, if I have to tell you to wake up one more time I’m docking your pay from this case.” Naru informed lowly from beside the brunette, crouching to be level with her ear.

Groaning slightly, Mai shuffled in bed, turning slightly until she was facing Naru as her mind finally came to a little. Blinking slightly to get the sleep out of her eyes, she stared in confusion as she came face to face with Naru. There was a moment of silence before she let out a small shout of surprise and sat up quickly, her heart pounding as a red flush worked its way over her features.

“What the hell Naru?!” The brunette shouted in embarrassment, narrowing her eyes at the smirk on his face. Stupid narcissist.

“Now that you're finally awake, perhaps you should consider getting up before I decide that you don't need to eat before we leave. I've wasted enough time trying to wake you up as it is.” Naru informed her coolly.

He wasn't about to tell her that the way she was looking at him right now was _well_ worth the wait for her reaction. Even though it was unintentional, she had set him up for a perfect opportunity to see those reactions he'd missed.

 _'Still an easy target.'_ He thought with a smirk as she practically squeaked when she noticed the time.

Turning around he, exited the room to wait for her to change.

Meanwhile Mai was having a mental breakdown. Holding her hand to her heart, she flushed at the thought of what had just happened. That stupid jerk! These things weren't good for her first thing in the morning.

Of course, it wasn't good for her at all but... oh for God's sake.

Giving up on her mental rant, the brunette turned herself to her bag and hummed lightly as she looked through for something comfortable to wear, settling on a pair of jeans and a long sleeved shirt. Even though Naru said that the weather was warming up, Mai had decided that he was insane. The highest temperature it'd been since she got here was thirteen degrees Celsius. That's only slightly warmer then the average winter weather in Tokyo.*

Shrugging on a jacket as well, she was slightly surprised to see Naru still outside when she exited the room with her smaller go bag in hand.

Fighting the urge to hit her head with the palm of her hand, she sighed. If she'd been paying more attention to her surroundings she would've noticed that his aura was _right there_. Honestly, she was beginning to question her own intelligence at this point.

Naru gave her a moment to work through whatever had caught her thoughts before he sighed and grabbed her arm briefly to pull her along with him before letting go. “Are you going to stand there all day or are you going to get something to eat?” He asked.

Snapping from her thoughts, Mai flushed slightly again before scolding herself. Twice already he'd made her blush. _'What the hell Mai? Get a grip!'_

Focusing on Naru again, she couldn't help but stare slightly. There was a thought nagging at the back of her head like she'd said something that she shouldn't have last night but she couldn't remember what it was.

Furrowing her brows, she looked away as her thoughts got caught up once more, but this time running through everything that had happened after they left the room.

Stopping mid step, her eyes widened as she registered what Naru had done. He'd used taking her to her room in her sleep deprived state as an opportunity to get her to be more loose lipped when interrogating her!

That bastard.

Flushing in anger, her eyes narrowed into a glare. Luckily it wasn't something super important that she'd told him about. Still, it wasn't something she'd wanted him to know.

Watching from beside her, Oliver could almost _feel_ the moment that Mai became angry. At what, he couldn't be sure. He was never sure when it came to Mai.

Nevertheless, he kept his thoughts to himself. Judging by the unusual silence between them there was probably something that he'd done to anger her without even meaning too.

Fighting the urge to sigh, he pinched the bridge of his nose out of habit as he considered what he could have done this time. Coming up short, he rolled his eyes mentally.

 _'I'm sure she'll let me know soon enough.'_ He concluded wryly as he watched Mai enter to dining room to eat before he followed suit.

Ending up in the same seats as yesterday, Mai almost glowed in happiness as she saw the spread in front of them.

Anger at Naru forgotten for the moment Mai couldn't help but grin up at him. “There's so many things to choose from.” She exclaimed excitedly, much to the amusement of Luella who had gotten up early to see them off.

“Feel free to have as much as you want.” Luella urged, smiling kindly at the child-like expression on Mai's face.

It was times like these that reminded Naru of just how little Mai had growing up. It was obvious things like this that were freely given to himself and Gene through their entire childhood were extremely rare – if not non-existent.

The thought made him sad though he opted not to consider why that could be as he helped himself to some toast, not hungry but willing to give Mai extra time to enjoy this. Once more – something he was unwilling to examine closely.

From beside him, Mai hummed happily as chewed on part of a pancake with syrup and fresh cream, before moving on to try the waffle. She had probably gone a little overboard with the amount of food she'd grabbed but there had been so much to choose from and she couldn't so she'd indulge just this once.

“Got enough food there Mai?” Teased Yasu from next to her.

Turning to glare him, she huffed and decided to ignore the comment lest she run out of time to finish the food.

The rest of the of meal passed in relative silence as everyone finished up their food before Naru stood up.

“Finish up eating. We leave in ten minutes.” He informed as soon as he realised Mai was getting to the end of her dish before he promptly left the room to go and finish packing everything into the vans.

Scowling at him slightly, Luella looked as though she was about to scold him for being rude.

Mai smiled softly at the familiar pushiness from Naru. There was something calming to note about his lack of change in demeanour.

Noticing the look, the blonde held her tongue, sighing slightly. Would her son ever learn?

Unluckily for Noll however, his rapid departure also reminded Mai of the fact that she was mad at him still.

Suddenly glaring at her dish, she huffed as she angrily chewed on the last piece of her pancake before standing up to leave as well, much to the amusement of everyone else at the table.

“What did that plate ever do to you? Run out of food too quick?” Bou-san teased, coming to stand next to Mai.

The brunette huffed. “It's not the plate I'm mad at. I just remembered something.” She grumbled before remembering herself and bowing towards Luella.

“Thank you so much for the food. It was delicious.” Mai informed, smiling at the older woman before turning to leave the room and catch up with a specific narcissist. _'This time,'_ She promised herself, _'I won't get distracted. I'm angry at him damn it. He can't go around taking advantage of people like that!'_

Making her way outside, she happily breathed in the fresh air with her eyes closed as the feeling of calm that she'd noticed the first time she'd gotten here once again washed over her. She'd adapted so well to the sadness and negative emotions of inside that she hadn't noticed how much they were suffocating her until she was out here in the fresh air.

Opening her eyes again, she forgot her calm as she glared at Naru who was looking at her with a smirk.

Before she could start a fight however, the others came trailing out behind her.

“Mai, you're riding with Lin and I. The rest of you are in the other van. Madoka will be driving you.” He informed without waiting for anyone so say something about the suffocating irritation Mai was sending at the seemingly immune teenager.

Sighing, Mai continued to glare as she got into the back of the van while Naru got into the front and Lin got into the drivers seat.

Settling in, she continued to glare at the back of Naru's seat as they began the hour long drive to the clients house.

It was silent for ten minutes before Noll fought the urge to sigh as he shut the file that he'd been looking over.

“Do you intend to glare at me all day?” He asked, unable to take her ire for much longer. It wasn't that it bothered him to have her angry at him. More often then not, she was angry at him usually. It was the fact that normally he _actively made_ her angry at him. And this time he hadn't.

Mai made an annoyed sound. “Depends. Do you intend to be a jerk all day?” She shot back.

His eyebrows furrowed as Lin shot him an inquisitive look from his seat. What had his charge managed to do this time?

Noll pinched the bridge of his nose. “What have I supposedly done?” He asked.

Glaring harder, she scoffed at his lack of understanding. “You're a so-called genius. Figure it out.” She grumbled.

Outright sighing, Naru turned around to glare at her but she had directed her gaze to the window just in time to avoid meeting his gaze and breaking.

“I'm an intellectual genius, not a mind reader. You should very well know the difference. Or was that entrance to Cambridge a fluke?”

Glancing at Noll from the corner of his eyes, Lin shook his head. When would this boy ever learn to be less of a brat?

Luckily, it would seem Mai didn't take any more offence then she would normally to his barbs. How the brunette could deal with Noll was beyond him.

“Are you implying that Cambridge entrance and scholarships are so easily applied for and won that I _could_ have fluked it? Perhaps I should inform your father of that fact.” Mai shot back easily, even angrier then she'd been.

This reply seemed to shock Noll and Lin both because neither spoke for a moment before Noll shook his head.

“I wouldn't put it past you.” Oliver replied after a moment.

Mai blinked for a moment before her brows furrowed slightly. “Was that an insult or a compliment?” She muttered more to herself as he glanced over at Lin.

Sadly the Chinese man seemed to be ignoring their argument. Not that it surprised her in any form.

Rolling his eyes, Naru turned to look at her again and this time, Mai ended up caught by his gaze. “Just tell me what I did that angered you so much to break pattern.”

He was of course, referring to the mental pattern he had observed – and informed her of – years ago.

Normally she would get depressed first. Then she would get angry and then soon after she would bounce back to normality. Naru theorised that this was due to her hatred of grudges.

However this time he hadn't noticed any outright depression and she definitely hadn't bounced back quickly.

Mai huffed at the reference. “Maybe I just don't fit that pattern any more. Did you consider that?” she questioned.

Oliver scoffed at that. “Doubtful. Now answer the question.”

The brunette looked at him innocently. “What question? I only remember a demand for knowledge. Maybe I would be more forthcoming if you didn't try to force the information out of me.” She spat back.

Something about the way that she said it made alarm bells go off in the back of his mind. _'Force information out of her...'_ He thought for a moment before it clicked into place. Of course.

Honestly with how tired she was last night, Noll was surprised she even remembered their chat.

Lin could tell the moment that Oliver realised what was wrong even though he had no clue what was going on himself. Paying extra attention to the conversation now that it wasn't just bickering, he was somewhat glad that neither of them ever paid him much mind.

It was so much easier to be silent and have them be comfortable enough to speak like this with him right here then to take Madoka's stance and stand there arguing with them and making things worse. If you left them alone then they would figure it out on their own. You just had to give them a little bit of time and patience. And if you did that then you didn't have to worry about them leaving you to go and talk it out else where so that you'd be left guessing about what happened.

He did so hate not having the whole picture after all.

Huffing, Mai could practically _feel_ it in the air the moment Naru finally clicked on what was wrong.

“Are you honestly mad about telling me about your spiritual sensitivity last night?” Naru asked her, looking over the seat to watch her reactions in order to sort this out.

Mai turned to glare at him once more, anger kicking back up. “Of course I am! I was asleep on my feet and you saw an opportunity to interrogate me more easily and took it. There was no way I was going to be able to sensor myself in that state and you knew it. It was an invasion of private information.” She shot back angrily.

Sighing, Noll pinched the bridge of his nose. “It wasn't that much information in the first place. I'm pretty sure that we would've found out the same thing the second we walk into the house today as it was. I don't understand why you insist on keeping so much of your abilities to yourself. We'll learn of them eventually.”

Gritting her teeth, Mai's glare didn't waver at his words. “And the moments when I _choose_ to confide in you about my abilities are mine to choose, not for you to force out of me when you know very well that I have no filter! And I certainly wouldn't have given you the exact same information when we got to the client's home.”

Rolling his eyes, Noll did his best to get his point across. “The more we know about your abilities, the easier it is to use them to their full advantage. But if you're so sure that you wouldn't have said the same thing today then tell me what would've changed.”

In her anger, Mai didn't even stop to consider her words before she spoke. “I wouldn't have given you a run down of your own home's emotional status!”

There was dead silence after the words left her mouth as Naru considered her words. That was very true. But he failed to see how that mattered all that much.

Thinking back to their conversation, he could've kicked himself when the answer became clear. Mai was a kind soul and she'd think that talking about how his home made her feel would be _insensitive_ to his emotional health. The irony was not lost on him.

Oliver ignored the slightly warm feeling as he focused his full attention on the now silent brunette, a small smile fighting to make its way onto his features.

“Mai.”

She didn't so much as twitch in response.

“Mai.”

Still nothing.

“Mai. Look at me.”

“No.” Came the short response.

“Mai.”

“I don't want to.”

Switching tactics, he couldn't help but roll his eyes slightly.

“Why not?”

Mai bit her lip gently, worrying it between her teeth. “Because if I do then I won't be mad any more.” She admitted.

Noll sighed. “That's ridiculous. You aren't that mad in the first place. You're worried.” He informed simply.

Almost immediately, her eyes shot up to him. “What do you know? Stupid narcissist.” She grumbled, fight gone from her as she'd predicted the moment her eyes met his.

“Listen to me carefully because I'll only say it once. I'm not upset about what you told me.” He promised.

It was silent for a moment and he thought that she would argue for a moment.

The thought did cross her mind as she stared at him. However she could find no lie in his statement and any of the fight left in her left instantly.

“Okay.” She mumbled. “I believe you. But never do that again. Seriously. It's not fair to me.”

Sighing, Noll nodded. “Very well.”

Mai smiled at him before finding her attention distracted by the large mansion in front of them as they arrived.

“Wow! It really is the exact same as in my dream.” She marvelled, slightly shocked even though she had seen the pictures just the day before.

As the van came to a stop, Mai got out excitedly, looking around with wide eyes. Closing her eyes, she let herself feel the air around them carefully, eyebrows furrowing when the outside of the mansion felt relatively normal.

“Something wrong?” Naru asked.

The brunette opened her eyes and glanced over at him. “Everything out here feels... normal? I don't know how to explain it to someone who hasn't experienced it but it's almost like the area out here is wearing a mask to hide anything negative. It's not peaceful like I would expect but none of it is making my senses scream 'danger'. It's weird.” She explained, glancing around the area.

Naru made a note in his notebook of this before sighing as the other's arrived a moment later.

“I'll go get Gwendolyn and she can show you all where to place everything.” He informed, moving to the house and knocking before he opened the door and just went inside.

Turning away from him, Mai smiled as she saw her family getting out of the van.

“Look guys! Isn't it pretty?” She exclaimed, spinning around like it would prove her point.

Bou-san chuckled at her excitement, running over to pull her into a hug and spin her around again.

“Not nearly as my little princess. You're much prettier then any old building.” He informed.

Giggling, Mai grinned brightly at him when she was set down again.

Madoka laughed at them only to cough when they turned around to see Naru standing there with an unimpressed look while the elderly woman next to him just looked amused.

Blushing at her childishness, she waited until Gwendolyn looked away before she stuck her tongue out at Naru who just rolled his eyes.

“This is Gwendolyn Baker, an old family friend of my families. Gwen, you of course know Lin and Madoka.” He introduced before proceeding to point at everyone. “Ayako Matsuzaki, a Shinto Priestess, Houshou Takigawa, a Buddhist monk, John Brown, a catholic priest, Masako Hara, a well-known medium, Osamu Yasuhara, just call him Yasu, a researcher and Mai Taniyama, a latent psychic.”

“It's very nice to meet you all. Come, I'll show you where you can set up.” Gwen informed them, smiling kindly as she turned to show them inside.

Grabbing some of the equipment, they followed her inside. Immediately she pointed to two rooms directly across from each other. “The room on the right is for the ladies to sleep in and the room on the right is for the men.” She informed before continuing until they reached the next door over. “You can use this one as your base. It's the room we have with the most outlets and no-one uses it much these days anyway. There's a bed in there as well, just in case.” She informed them.

On her left the entire room was an open plan lounge with a huge kitchen and dining area. There was a fireplace on the far wall with a large flat screen tv above it.

 _'At least it'll be relatively hard to get lost and easy to see each other if things get dangerous'_ Mai thought, slightly relieved. Even though she could use her abilities to find the others when she needed too, if she wasn't paying attention then she often got lost anyway.

Turning away from the area, Mai followed the others into their base, once again shocked at the large inside. There was a large oak corner desk that Naru was already setting up the monitors on while the first part of the room contained to long couches and a coffee table in the middle. Because of the odd shape of the room, it took Mai a moment to realise that the bed that had been mentioned was just to the left of the desk, hidden behind a wall that separate the room from the stairs in the living area that led upstairs.

Placing down the monitor that she'd been carrying with the rest of them, Mai sighed.

She'd been so focused on the layout that she'd barely taken note of how the house felt since she entered.

Letting go of the tight grip she'd placed over her abilities when they'd first entered to prevent any surprises, she immediately stumbled over to the couch to sit down when she felt the suffocating presence of the man she suspected to haunt this place, as well as the fear of the two women who had lived with him. It was so strong that she wasn't even sure whether it was a phantom phenomenon in which old their emotions remained and their spirits had moved on or if they were actually still here, lingering.

Her energy was already been drained by the negative energy as she tried to reign her emotions in, tightening her grip on her sensitivity again.

“Mai?” Ayako asked, immediately noticing the small stumbled she'd made as she made her way over to the couch.

Swallowing, Mai shook her head in response, unable to force her mouth to move while she did her best to keep breathing for a moment, collecting herself as the strength of the emotions began to fade away.

By the time she'd gotten herself under control, the brunette looked up to find almost everyone looking at her with worry.

“What happened?” Naru demanded, immediately.

When Mai turned to look over at him, he felt his blood run cold. He'd never seen her look so drained.

“How can anyone stand to live here?”

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

*When I was in Japan, I was there from January through to Mid-February aka Winter. In this time, the average day temperature in Tokyo that I experienced was 9-10 degrees Celsius so I’m basing this on that. However, the ones for London are purely from Google so if anyone has been or knows more about the patterns, feel free to let me know. I'm no weather expert so I'm relying heavily on research to help keep things as close to reality as they would be.

 


	7. Chapter 7

Week number four! Finally, we can continue on with some more of this case. I had a lot of trouble trying to write this chapter for some reason? It was quite annoying and resulted in a slightly shorter chapter then planned. As previously stated, I have found my own cases and case writing to be extremely lacklustre in the past but I'm hoping that this case will have enough depth to get you guys intrigued and be enjoyable enough. I will warn you in advance, this particular case is not intended to be extremely long, no matter how I write it. It really is meant to be an introduction case for England that just scratches the surface of things and gives some insight into how the characters operate now and have changed over time, particularly Mai and her abilities. Hopefully despite this, you guys enjoy this as much as I enjoy writing it!

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Ghost Hunt

**Chapter Key:**

“English Speaking”

“ _Japanese Speaking”_

_'Thinking'_

**Chapter Seven**

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

Her quiet admission, only served to make everyone more confused before Mai shook her head to break free from the emotional haze she currently found herself in.

A quiet clearing of a throat from beside her made Mai turn her head, only to smile at John as he offered her a glass of water.

“Thank you.”

Taking slow sips from it, the brunette took a deep breath before feeling better. Of course now that she knew they were there, she could still feel the negative emotions from under the surface but it didn't bother her quite as much with her shields back up.

Seeing that she was feeling better, Noll ignored the feeling of relief and instead repeated his earlier question.

Collecting her thoughts, Mai thought about it carefully before responding. “When I enter a place I’ve never been before, I always put my sensitivity on lock down until I have a moment to focus on them entirely, especially since sometimes they're too strong to deal with standing up. Just then, I re-opened them to get a read on the house. I wasn't expecting it to be quite so strong.” She admitted, slightly angry at herself.

Naru nodded in understanding. “We'll finish setting up and then I want to hear about it.” He informed her coldly before giving the group of people still in the room an unimpressed look. “How long are you going to stand there instead of going to collect equipment?”

Almost immediately, everyone began to scamper out of the room, leaving Mai with a little bit more time to put her emotions into something resembling an explanation. It really was difficult to turn emotions into words. Stupid jerk, demanding answers like they were easy to come up with when he could barely _name_ any emotions.

Shaking the irritation, she tried to focus on the emotions she'd felt earlier to get a read on what exactly the emotions were.

There had definitely been a strong feeling of animosity that was aimed towards not only herself, but all of females. It had been terrifying in intensity and even now she shivered at the thought of it. The underlying residual fear that linked to it made her want to wince with how _sharp_ it felt and the way that it triggered an additional rise in how smug and arrogant the man had felt towards women made her angrier then she could put into words.

 _'If this was how it feels after more than a century, how would it have felt back then?'_ Mai couldn't help but wonder. It was a question she hoped she didn't get an answer to.

Time passed by slowly as everyone else continued to bring in the equipment, leaving Mai to figure out her thoughts and recover from the emotional strain. However, all to soon they were taking a seat to discuss the details of the case.

In true SPR fashion however, instead of immediately explaining her experience so far, Mai found herself watching in amusement as Ayako shouted at Bou-san for calling her old while Yasu “protected” his love from the cruel words.

“Yasuhara I swear to you, if you don't stop that I'm going to make your life a living _hell_ ” Ayako hissed.

Eyes widening in fake surprise, Yasu jumped up from his space on the couch, running over to his best friend and huddling next to her. “Mai- _chan_! Did you hear how she threatened me? She's a demon, you have to exorcise her or I'll never live to see our classes at Cambridge.” He informed her, faking terror as the red-head continued to get angrier.

Before she could continue however, Naru's cold voice cut in. “If you continue to treat this like playground, you can go and pay for your own ticket back to Japan now.”

Glaring at him, Ayako settled down, continuing to glare daggers at Yasu how moved away from Mai, grinning smugly as he pushed his glasses up with a finger so they would sit better on the bridge of his nose.

Mai took this moment of quiet to breathe deeply before turning to Naru to explain everything.

It didn't take long before he had notes on her emotions, looking thoughtful.

“Judging by this spirit's attitude towards women, I don't want any of you to go anywhere without a male. When you sleep tonight, make sure that all of you go together and under no circumstances is anyone to be alone. Do I make myself clear?”

There was a resounding agreement and Oliver nodded slightly, happy that they'd understood. Maybe they had changed slightly over the year. After all, he had expected at least a slight argument from Mai.

Or perhaps she was merely too tired to argue.

Either way he wasn't about to tempt fate by looking this gift horse in the mouth.

“Mai, Takigawa, I want you two to set up the camera's. Take Hara-san with you so that she can do a walk through. John, you and Miss Matsuzaki will set up the other lot of cameras. Mai, John, both of you take a temperature gauge with you and take the temperature's of all the rooms as you go through. Madoka, you and Yasu are to go and research this house and see what you can find.”

Naru waited until there was confirmation of their assignments before he motioned for them all to split off, Lin handing Mai and John each a list of the different places the camera's would be placed.

Before long, a much-needed quiet settled over the room and the teenager found he could finally focus on his thoughts.

Pulling out his black notebook, he frowned at the meagre amount of notes that he currently had written down. Ordinarily he would have relentlessly asked for more information from the current client however, in this case he already knew everything that the client had to say. It certainly made things run faster but he couldn't help but feel like there were some obvious things he was missing.

Letting out an inaudible sigh, he rubbed the bridge of his nose and silently noted that a cup of tea at this point might be exactly what he needed. For that though, he would have to wait for Mai to return.

Resigning himself to such a fate, he turned his focus to the monitors that were slowly flickering to imagery.

He could be waiting a while.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Mai sighed as she took down the temperature, in the sixth room they'd been to so far.

“How's this Lin?” Bou-san asked from across the room as he set the camera up.

It was a slight pause before the Chinese man's voice came through the walkie-talkie. “Move it slightly to the right.”

Following the direction, Bou-san almost immediately gained confirmation that it was fine.

Groaning, the monk looked over at Mai with the most pitiful expression he could muster. “This is by far, the most boring part of an investigation.” He informed her.

Mai wanted to laugh at the eye roll Masako offered from behind him where the other wouldn't notice it but opted just to smile, not wanting to offend him.

“If you're that bothered about setting up the cameras, we can always switch?” She offered, giggling at the look that he gave her.

“Even I know that this is more fun then taking a bunch of _temperatures_.” Bou-san grumbled.

Before Mai could respond to his comment there was a moment of static before Naru's voice fluttered through the walkie-talkie.

“If you stopped complaining and instead just _did your job_ then maybe you would be further along.” He informed them all, voice harsh.

Bou-san winced at the reprimand and shook his head. “That kid.” He grumbled, proceeding to pick up the camera pile as he made his way out of the room.

As they made their way to the next room so Mai could take the temperature, she turned to Masako.

“So, how does everything feel so far? Have you sensed much?” She asked the medium, curious.

Masako took a moment to think on it and put her feelings into words before she replied. Unlike Mai, she didn't feel the same intense emotions which was odd, but not unheard of. There were times when Mai connected better to an area then she did and instead she would find herself feeling brunt of the emotions.

That said, with the way she had acted earlier, Masako had her suspicions that Mai's sensitivity had grown even further. It was an exciting probability but not something she herself wanted to explore. There were enough downsides to feeling spiritual emotions at her current level of sensitivity without the endless increases that Mai seemed to be forever experiencing.

She continued considering Mai for a moment and found herself wondering is she was even aware of the extent that her abilities had grown. It seemed unlikely but not entirely _impossible_.

“Masako?”

Shaking herself from her thoughts, she covered her lack of response by moving her sleeve in front of her face and narrowing her eyes at Mai.

“Don't rush me. You of all people know how hard it is to reconcile the feelings of a medium and turn it into words.” She scolded, feeling slightly guilty at her cover up but throwing the thought to the back of her mind. She couldn't be caught with straying thoughts after all.

Looking suspicious, but slightly guilty, Mai nodded at her friend, pouting slightly.

She was almost positive that Masako had been completely distracted and not at all focused on her question but she let it go. If her friend didn't want her to know then she wouldn't concern herself for the moment.

“I feel the same animosity towards females as yourself and I can sense the spirit of the man who it comes from. He spends a lot of time on the third level of this house and mostly wanders around angrily. He seems to have gotten even angrier with the current presence of more females.” She informed Mai before pausing. “There is another spirit here as well. She's faint, almost like she's concealing her presence. I don't think the male spirit has noticed her. She doesn't seem malicious. More protective.”

The fact that there was another spirit in the house didn't really surprise Mai and she couldn't help but consider who it could be as she continued to mindlessly take the temperatures of the rooms.

It was possible that it was the younger girls spirit but her instincts were telling her that it was probably the mother. The only thing she couldn't understand was why she would stick around?

Surely if she could finally be free of that man then she would.

Mulling over it, Mai almost hit herself as she recalled what Masako had said. “Protective.” If it was the mother then it made sense for her to stay and be protective of her daughter. But her daughter was long passed on, so who was she protecting now? And why?

Of course this was all speculation and questions that she might never have answers to and she didn't want to offer them up until she had at least some form of proof.

Resolved to keep her thoughts to herself, she continued chattering with Bou-san as they finished up and headed back to base.

Walking back into base, she grinned at the sight of Ayako and John who had returned only a few minutes before her sitting near an annoyed Naru.

It was a familiar sight and she couldn't help the pang that registered as she thought of all the memories she associated with scenes like this. Without Naru and Lin ghost hunting just hadn't been the same.

Moving to take a seat with Ayako, she rolled here eyes as the priestess made a show of looking 'sore' from all the work (that she'd doubtlessly put onto poor John). “I didn't miss what a slave driver Naru is, let me tell you.” She whispered at Mai.

Bou-san snorted from behind Mai's place on the couch. “I think you'll find that to be the result of old age.” He informed her easily, stepping back to avoid the swing of her purse.

Eyebrows creasing slightly in annoyance at the display, Oliver tried to ignore the tiniest part of him that found the familiarity to be comforting. It was good to know that they really didn't change all that much in the past year.

He was about to open his mouth to ask for his much needed tea from Mai when the base door opened loudly and Madoka waltzed in with Yasu in tow.

Almost immediately, he resigned himself to waiting even _longer_ for his caffeinated drink with spiking irritation.

“Bou-san my love! Did you miss me?” Yasu proclaimed, quickly making his way over to where the monk was still standing only to pout as the adult immediately removed himself from the spot and moved as far away as possible.

“You can keep your love to yourself. I don't need it.” He informed Yasu, shivering at the creepy thought.

Mai giggled at the response, turning to her friend and patting the space next to her. “It's okay. I'll accept you.” She told her best friend, fluttering her eyelashes up at him in a fake show of coyness that caused him to smirk.

There was a cry of outrage as Bou-san moved quickly to sit in the spot she was indicating so that Yasu couldn't. “No Mai. Don't let him corrupt you. Stay away from the creepy kid.” He insisted.

Before Yasu could respond, Naru glared at them heavily. “What did you two find out?”

Giving up on his game, Yasu moved to sit down away from Bou-san and waited for Madoka to present their findings.

“It turns out that this mansion was build in the early 1800s, just as London started to become famous for the levels of smog and pollution so that the Wadleigh family could escape to the fresher air. They were one of the leading families who invested in the rail road project and were practically rolling in the money. Benjamin was the first born son to Albert and Maria Wadleigh. When he married to Elizabeth Monree in 1867, his parent's gifted him this mansion as a wedding gift and passed on from disease not long after.” She informed them all, nodding to Mai when she mentioned Elizabeth's name.

“Benjamin was liked well enough by the men but he was known for treating his women harshly which matches with what Mai said. In 1868, Elizabeth finally managed to get pregnant. There are rumours that he was furious when she gave birth to a daughter. Evidently he had been waiting for an heir and didn't care for a daughter at all. Their daughter, Bianca went missing along with Benjamin only months after the unexpected death of her mother in 1878.”

Naru thought about the new information digesting everything that he'd been told as he tried to put the pieces of the puzzle together.

“Do we have any ideas as to what happened to them?” He inquired. Some of the puzzle pieces were still missing and he didn't want to reply purely on speculation for what happened. Assumptions were hardly scientific after all.

This time it was Yasu who responded. “There were some rumours that could be traced back to one of the maid's. It was never investigated but everyone was fairly sure that Benjamin had been the one to kill Elizabeth. There was nothing they could've done considering his influence but the rumours were still there. One day, the maid was passing by a room and got curious when she heard raised voices. She reported seeing Bianca shout at her father for killing her mother, only to make him mad enough to attack her as well. Allegedly there was a struggle as he tried to choke her but a white light to protect her for long enough to grab a hold of something heavy and hit him over the head, killing him. The maid ran away after that but she believed that Bianca packed herself just enough to get by and left to start over. They never heard of her again.” He explained.

This was enough for the details to click into place for everything to click into place. It seemed likely that things had played out much like that. The white light was interesting however.

“That's terrible.” Mai muttered, feeling sad at the thought of all the lives lost. Poor Bianca would've been on her own in the world at such a young age too.

Looking over at Naru, she tilted her head. “Do you think that it was Elizabeth who produced the white light? That maybe she was protecting her daughter since she wasn't powerful enough to do it while alive?” She speculated, finally raising her suspicions.

Even before a response however, she could feel her instincts telling her that this was the truth of the situation.

“That seems likely.” Naru agreed, seeing the conviction Mai felt. Her instincts were likely to be spot on, as always.

Fighting the urge to sigh as they finished information swapping, he rubbed at his nose. He really needed some tea.

It didn't take long for Naru's mood to darken as base began to get loud again and he hadn't had a chance to demand his tea.

Meeting them all with his best glare, he hoped that his voice sounded as cold as he was beginning to feel. The familiar comfort of the earlier arguing was gone and long since replaced with memories of this same irritation stemming from their inability to focus on the job at hand instead of mucking around like five year olds.

“If you have time to play around then you can find something to do. Need I remind you that there is a little girl missing?”

Bou-san shrank back slightly at the cold glare before sobering at the reminder. “Right. Ayako, let's go walk around and see we can find any clues.” He insisted, grabbing her arm and pulling her along before she could protest.

John smiled slightly at the display before turning to Masako and offering her his hand. “It might be best if we do the same. Maybe the female spirit will help lead us to Megan.” He pointed out optimistically.

Despite her doubts, the medium allowed the priest to pull her up before they left base together.

The sudden level of calmness and quiet immediately helped Noll's mood.

Seeing that things were getting serious again, Yasu and Madoka moved over to the monitors with Lin to help observe things.

Seeing her chance, Mai reached into her bag from next to the couch and pulled something out before she pushed herself off the couch and wandered over to where Naru was seated.

“Our turn.” She insisted, giving him a pointed look when he glanced up from his notebook to glare at her.

Ignoring it, Mai crossed her arms.

Narrowing his eyes further, he couldn't help but wonder when Mai had become immune to his glares. “What idiotic ideas are you spouting about now?” He asked, giving in.

Mai huffed at his obliviousness, resisting the urge to stamp her foot in irritation.

“I've never seen you go this long without tea on a case and your annoyance in bothering everyone, including me. So we are going to go and make some.” She insisted. “Besides, you were the one who made it that the girl's need to go everywhere with an escort.”

Raising a brow at the situation, Oliver also had to consider when he had become this easy to read. Or maybe he was just easy to read for Mai. It wouldn't be a shock, what with out in tune she normally was to everyone else's needs but her own. And he could at least find relief in the fact that she hadn't even attempted to leave base without someone else. Small miracles he supposed.

Debating his chances of receiving tea if he pushed her attitude further and commented on this fact, he opted to leave it alone.

Closing his book and tucking it away in his jacket pocket to come back to after, he stood up, following Mai as she left the room.

Thankfully the kitchen wasn't far away and it was more precautionary that she take someone with her when only going across the open plan room.

Humming lightly to herself, Mai filled the electric kettle and then flicked it on to boil.

Taking note of Mai's closed hand, Oliver's eyes narrowed. “What's in your hand?” He asked.

Blinking at the sudden question, Mai tilted her head in confusion before her eyes lit up in recognition.

“Oh! I have some of my home made tea bags. It's not at good as making a pot fresh and I don't have a lot but it's enough to keep us going for a week or so. I'll have to figure out where to replenish my stock here...” She trailed off thoughtfully as she placed the bags on the bench.

Turning away from Naru again, she turned to the overhead cupboards and opened them only to glare.

Standing on the tips of her toes, Mai reached up as far as she could, barely brushing against the mugs that were placed on the topmost shelf. _'Who the heck keeps the mugs this high up?'_ She wondered, glaring at them like it would make them jump down to her.

Watching her in amusement, Noll let her struggle for a moment before stepping up behind her and reaching over her to easily procure two mugs.

At the feeling of another body near her own, Mai froze, her breathing stopping as she felt a wave of shock.

Just as soon as he had been there, Naru's body heat was gone leaving behind a feeling of longing as she relished the last remaining heat, her face completely red.

Swallowing thickly, she ignored the smirk on Naru's face as she proceeded to fill the cups with hot water before placing the tea bags in to rest for a moment.

Forcing herself to breathe, Mai tried to get a hold of herself. _'Stop freaking out!'_ She scolded herself, only succeeding in making her blush come back full force as she was reminded of how Naru had felt against her – _'Stop it!'_

On auto pilot, the brunette added some sugar to the tea and a splash of milk before stirring it and then draining the tea bag.

Ignoring her raging blush, Mai shoved it at Naru for him to drink.

“If you drink this before we get back to base then I can refill it for you straight away.” She informed his, unable to meet his eyes.

Noll couldn't help but feel smug at the reaction he'd managed to pull from her as he drank greedily from the tea, absent-mindedly noting the instant relaxation effect it had over him. It wasn't surprising, he supposed, that his body knew the smell and taste of Mai's tea well enough for it to have an effect on his olfactory to the point of it triggering an autobiographical response.*

Holding out his cup without a word he tried not to smile at her huff as she turned around to fix him another cup, uncharacteristically silent in her movements.

Holding it, she gave him an expectant look as he held her gaze.

“Are you going to stand there holding it all day or give it to me?” Naru asked after a beat, smirking at the flash of irritation on her features at his lack of manners.

Shoving it at him, Mai grabbed her own cup and stalked away angrily.

“You jerk!”

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

*The Olfaction is the part of your body that give you the ability to smell. I couldn't find the name of the theory I was thinking of which is most annoying so if anyone knows it I would be forever grateful but basically what Naru is thinking about here is the idea that when your body smells something, it triggers a specific memory and reminds you of something such as a specific perfume reminding you of your grandmother and triggering her memory. Sometimes these memories also form an autobiographical response in the body such as automatically causing you to relax or tense. Smell is the most common trigger for autobiographical memory recollection due to the connection between your sense of smell and memory keeping but visuals can cause the same kind of response and in theory, taste can also do the same thing.

 


	8. Chapter 8

Back again on time! This is actually the last chapter for this case apart from some of the finishing touches. As mentioned previously, this really isn't intended to be a long and difficult case. Just something introductory and more of a reason for Naru to seek the team out and get in contact with them again. The future cases I have planned are more likely to span 4-5 chapters though so look forwards to that! I actually really had a lot of trouble once again when I tried to write the beginning of this chapter, but the second half was super easy and flowed without me putting too much thought into it. Isn't writing weird? Anyways, leave a review if you enjoyed and just a reminder, if you guys have any ideas for moments between character's that you'd like to know more about or just cute things that you'd like to see happen, make sure to let me know!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Ghost Hunt

**Chapter Key:**

“English Speaking”

“ _Japanese Speaking”_

_'Thinking'_

_Flashback_

**Chapter Eight**

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

The rest of the day passed in an unusual silence. Despite the fact that up until now the spirit had been rather violent, as long as the girls were with a man, Benjamin's spirit didn't seem inclined to do anything to them.

Considering this, Oliver glared at the monitors in front of him. It had gotten late and almost everyone else had gone to bed for the night, leaving himself and Lin to watch the monitors for now. There was a nagging feeling in the back of his mind like something was going to happen. Everything had been too quiet today and he couldn't help but feel as though this was going to turn out to be a literal calm before the storm.

However despite this unease, the night time passed without any sign of an issue. None of the females mentioned anything about his spirit bothering them. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that Noll had come onto this case knowing for a fact that it was a haunting, he would have completely dismissed what he'd learnt so far.

_'As if I needed a reminded that I don't have the capabilities for ESP or pre-cognition'_ Oliver couldn't help but scold himself. It wasn't like he'd had a basis for his unease in the first place. He was working himself up over nothing.

As everyone slowly started trailing in to start together, his eyebrows furrowed when not all of the girls entered at once. For a second he was about to complain about their inability to follow basic orders but Mai walked through the door only a few moments after Ayako. The delay annoyed him but he forced his mind back into an impassive state.

His anxiousness was beginning to get out of control.

As they all took a seat, he took a moment to calm his mind and focus on the facts yet again.

“Was there any activity last night?” Takigawa inquired, taking a seat on the lounge.

Oliver glared slightly. “None at all.” He informed, somewhat annoyed. There was a child of a family 'friend' missing and they had no clues as to where she was. It had already been too long for her to go without water.

An equally frustrated sigh came from Mai across the room.

Debating over her options, the brunette bit her lip. On one hand, she was trying to keep her abilities on the down low. There were so many things that she _needed_ to keep from everyone around her. But on the other hand, a little girl's life was in danger and she was sick of sitting around, waiting for the other shoe to drop. She could do something. _'So why the hell am I still sitting here?'_ She scolded herself.

Standing up in what seemed to be an abrupt fashion to everyone else, Mai headed for the door to the base.

The feeling on a familiar glare caused her to pause at the door.

“And just what do you think you're doing?” Naru asked, voice cold as he looked at Mai.

Turning to face him, Mai's hands went to her hips as she went on the defensive. “I'm going to go and do something. Sitting around here isn't going to change anything.” She pointed out.

Noll couldn't help but glare harder in response. Something? How very vague. That was a thought to put aside for later.

“Something? Well would you care to explain exactly what that something is? And why you thought you could go out on your own for whatever it is? I believe I explicitly ordered everyone to never go alone and that a male escort be with the females whenever they leave.”

Mai glared back at him. “No I don't care to explain it to you. I'm not even sure if it'll work. My control over some of my abilities is still a case by case basis. But anything is worth a shot at this point. I can't continue to sit around aimlessly when a little girl needs help.” She responded, glossing over his other point with ease.

In truth she'd been so caught up in deciding whether or not she could help out that she'd completely forgot that little detail. _'I wish I could go on my own, that would be better. But if I have to take someone with me who would be best? Yasu would be the most useful in terms of keeping his mouth shut but he has no warding magic. No-one will go for it. Bou-san? Too overbearing. That only leaves Lin or John. John would ask the least questions but maybe...'_ She hesitated for a moment over her own thought process.

For whatever reason, her instincts were screaming at her to take Lin with her of all people.

But _why?_

It was times like these that she really hated her abilities. An answer without a reason isn't worth too much in the end. But... well she couldn't really go against it at any rate, right?

“Lin- _san_? Would you mind accompanying me?” Mai asked, the words out of her mouth before she'd even finished contemplating the thought.

The older man seemed shocked as he looked over at her.

He'd been minding his own business at the monitors ignoring the inevitable spat that was happening behind him when he'd heard his name.

Looking over, he couldn't help his own confusion at the situation. Why was _he_ the one she was asking for.

Apparently he wasn't the only one confused at her choice. Noll looked slightly confused as his brows furrowed as he tried to figure out the situation, his anger effectively contained as a new mystery reared its head – had that been her intent?- but even more confused were the irregular members of JSPR.

“Hey, hey, hey. What about me? Don't tell me that you've forgot your favourite man when faced with the stoicisms of Lin and Naru?” Bou-san demanded, pouting at her.

Mai's irritation faded at the ribbing from her friend. “It can't be helped. I need peace for concentration and you'll help with neither of those things.” She shot back simply, grinning at the hurt expression he adopted at her insult.

“Why you-”

Before he could get going though, Mai turned and opened the door. “Coming?” She called back at him, already half way out the door.

Not really seeing any options, the Chinese man sighed inwardly and followed after her.

If nothing else this meant that he would be able to witness some of her abilities and get a read of them on his own. Oliver wasn't the only one who had noticed how tight lipped she was being.

After Mai and Noll had left the room last night, Martin had tried to get any information out of the other members from JSPR but they hadn't been able to tell them much.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

_As soon as the door shut behind them, Mai running after Naru in a haste not to be left behind, Martin turned to the other members of the team that Oliver had called upon._

“ _Is she always like that?” He inquired, not delicate in the least as he looked towards them in confusion._

_Ayako looked over at him. “How do you mean?” She asked, a little confused at the sudden topic of conversation._

_Martin winced as Luella elbowed him for his rudeness. Coughing, he tried again._

“ _I only mean to ask if Miss Taniyama is always so... tight lipped about her abilities? Even around those she knows, or if this was merely because I was here.”_

_Bou-san nodded in understanding. “She is to us at least. There's a lot of things that Mai doesn't really tell us. Even in the beginning, Mai wasn't all that comfortable with her abilities. Has anyone ever mentioned how she was revealed as an ESPer?” He inquired._

_Martin shook his head, leaning forwards in intrigue._

_The monk sighed, but was unsurprised. “Mai had always had an uncanny ability to sense danger and make predictions in regards to people. During a particular case, Mai predicted that despite all the evidence pointing to one of the girl's being the perpetrator, she was sure that it wasn't her. I think even at that point, Naru was sure that she was an ESPer because he took her words as more than just the statement of a teenage girl. But she had been correct. After that, he'd tested her officially.”_

_Martin raised his eyebrow in response. “I never heard about this. What test did he use?” He asked, glad that he was finally getting somewhere. Despite his best attempts, he hadn't managed to wheedle much information out of the young girl and this was already more than she'd relinquished to him._

_Ayako grimaced slightly, remembering that day. “It was a test where she had to pick which bulb was going to light up in a set of light bulbs. Somehow she managed in 1000 attempts to never pick the right one, a mathematically impossibility.” She informed._

_The concept struck Martin as odd. “Ordinarily that test requires the guesser to get them correct.” He pointed out. “Was there a reason why Noll thought that she didn't get anything correct?”_

_John hummed in thought. “Naru once mentioned that he thought it was due to her overwhelming desire to not have any abilities. He figured that her abilities were reacting to her desires and that by her logic, getting them all incorrect meant that she'd failed the test.”_

_A cough came from beside him and they all turned to Yasu who had been silent up until that moment. “While that may be his theory, I have a different one.” He informed the professor confidently._

_Martin raised an eyebrow at the open challenge to his son's hypothesis but waved the boy onto continue, curious about anything he had to say._

_Yasu nodded, pushing his glasses as he spoke. “I wasn't actually around for this particular part of SPR in Japan yet but when Mai mentioned it to me I told her my own hypothesis. In actual fact, I – and Mai actually - believe that her ESP abilities in general lie in disproving or finding the wrong result instead of finding the correct one. We've run a few tests before and found that when focusing her instincts she's not very good at deciding what's correct – her instincts in that regard are much more subdued and case by case - but if you ask her if it's not correct she has no problems saying if it isn't. The case you mention is actually a great example. She couldn't tell you_ why _it wasn't that girl or_ who else _it could be but she could say for certain who it_ wasn't _. That's not to say that she doesn't have any ability in the opposite – as I said before. There are times when her instincts tell her something that she can't decipher but I can say for certain that she follows them always.”_

_The explanation was long winded, but when he thought about it, Martin could definitely see the sense in it. Indeed it was likely._

“ _I would definitely like to hear more about those tests when you have the chance.” Martin expressed, curiosity peeked._

_Yasu grinned. “If you can get Mai to agree, they're all yours.” He promised._

_There was a feeling of disappointment at the reminder of his current predicament. “Back on topic however, she was always like this?” He inquired._

_Bou-san nodded. “Pretty much. She never had that much faith in her own psychic abilities. But I suppose, she never out-right hid them like she seems to be these days.” He mused. “Before, she just wouldn't believe what she knew but these days she knows better. Especially since the last case that we took in Japan.”_

_Ayako looked over at Yasu. “Which reminds me, you're Mai's best friend. Has she spoken to you about anything?” She asked, eyes narrowed suspiciously._

_The younger man took the look in stride, shrugging easily as he stood up from the couch. “Maybe she has, maybe she hasn't. But you already know, anything I know isn't about to come to light short of a life or death situation. Anything Mai tells me that she doesn't tell you all is in complete confidence covered under our best friend policy. Maybe you should consider that If she doesn't want you to know, perhaps its for a reason.” He pointed out before bowing slightly. “I'm off to bed. Goodnight.”_

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

Yasuhara's decision to leave for the night had reminded them all that they had to be up early in the morning and they'd all promptly forgotten about their worries, focusing instead on getting some rest. Lin however - who'd been silent through the entire talk - had continued to mull over these thoughts even as he made his way to the guest room that he used whenever he stayed the night at the Davis' place.

Walking through the halls quietly, he couldn't help but continue to think on everything once more. It was obvious from Yasuhara's behaviour that he knew more than the rest of them but none of them could really be sure just how much that 'more' entailed.

Looking over at the brunette, he wanted to sigh at the determined look on her face.

The first thing they'd done after leaving the room was grab a bottle of water and it had confused him. There were a few reasons he could think of for needing water but none of them seemed to be lining up with the current facts.

Groaning at his own thought process, Lin wanted to shake himself for his own stupidity. The object of his concern and questions is right beside him and there was no-one around to stop him from asking questions.

“Taniyama _-chan,_ why did you choose me to come with you?” He inquired, after a beat, getting straight to the point. There was no point in being subtle after all.

Mai couldn't help but giggle in response to the way he asked. She'd wondered how long it would take.

Humming, she thought about it as she walked. “I'm not actually sure about that.” She admitted easily. “All I know is that I _had_ to take one of you with me and for whatever reason, my mind decided that you would be best.”

Lin frowned at the explanation. “For what ever reason?” He inquired.

The brunette shrugged, turning to look up at the man beside her. “Yup. It's not like I always know why my instincts decide the things that they do. I trust them with my life so it's no worry for me to follow them but it could be even weeks before the reason behind their push is clear to me.” She revealed, seeing no reason to keep that from the older man.

It wasn't something she'd originally planned to study but unlike other topics, this wasn't actually something she'd planned on outright hiding.

Thinking it over, Lin supposed that the answer was real enough. Imagining himself in her position, he wasn't sure he'd have any more idea then she did.

“And what about your plans? What exactly do you plan to do to help find Megan?” He asked, deciding to try his luck.

Mai deliberated for a moment in silence over the question. Even though she'd hoped that Lin wouldn't ask, it wasn't like it was extremely unexpected.

Biting her lip, she eyed him out of the corner of her eyes. It wasn't like what she was doing was an unknown ability. She'd have to embellish but she supposed that there was a way to get around this without giving too much away.

Even now she wasn't sure why there were things she was determined to keep under wraps. She just felt like there were so many new aspects to her own abilities and she didn't want to just make claims about them. She wanted to showcase them. Prove their reality.

Honestly, sometimes she felt like she was being an attention seeker. With how many things that had happened in the past year, so much had changed and it'd become normal not to talk about it.

“Taniyama-chan?”

Breaking from her thoughts, Mai smiled at him. “I'll explain it as I go along. We're here.”

Standing in front of them was Megan's bedroom. Lin hadn't actually entered the room himself however there had been significant temperature drops in here a couple times, but no other cause of activity. Before their arrival however this had been a central part of the attacks. Why were they here?

Stepping in, Mai shuddered slightly at the seeping emotions from the ghost's residual appearances. She could still feel the malice and anger he was holding inside.

Looking around, she spotted Megan's bed and immediately moved towards it, taking a seat on the duvet and focussing on the left over energy that Megan had from her time in this room.

“Explanation.” Lin reminded, watching the young girl carefully. There was a camera in this room but no microphone so the other's would see but not hear.

The reminder jolted Mai from the daze that she'd managed to put herself into.

Coughing slightly, she gave the older man an apologetic look. “Right so um. I don't know how to explain this first part really well but I'll do my best. In the year you guys were gone, while my sensitivity began to increase I started also becoming sensitive to aura's and residual energy. By being here, I'm hoping to get a read on Megan's residual energy so that I can locate her.” She explained, turning her focus back to the room for a moment, before giving her attention back to Lin.

“And the purpose of the water?” He inquired. Things still weren't quite adding up for him.

Mai blinked before shaking herself at the surprise. “Oh, of course! I'm going to try and find her energy while astral projecting. Hopefully I'll be able to give her this water to tide her over until we can get to her in real life.” She explained.

Blinking, Lin could admit easily that he was a little shocked by this fact. “You can astral project on command now?” He asked, a little irritated that this hadn't come up last night. They were definitely going to have to sit down and go over her abilities again. It would seem that when asking the right questions, Mai had no problem explaining things. It was likely that she just didn't think that some of these things were worth mentioning last night.

Fighting the urge to rub at his temples from the headache he could already predict this would cause him, he narrowed his eyes.

Mai hummed. “Sort of? If it's just managing to do it when I want to then I've been able to do that even before you guys left Japan.” She admitted. “But I've gotten better at it over time. It's still a case by case basis though, like I said earlier. I think things will go well this time though. In fact, i'm positive.”

Nodding in ascent, Lin watched as the young girl got herself comfortable and begun to follow some basic breathing exercises.

It was a little odd for her to do this feeling judging eyes on her, but Mai focussed on the multitude of colours that surrounded her, feeling out the energy of Megan as she began to let go of her physical body. Allowing a light feeling to overtake herself, she kept her breathing even until she felt herself fully separated. Opening her eyes for the first time since she's begun, Mai quelled her urge to shout in happiness. She could celebrate later.

Looking around, she scanned her surroundings. It was always weird to see the way the spirit world depicted the houses that they worked in, like each level was transparent, the only colours being formed from residual energy and auras of anyone inside.

Looking around, she focused on finding the energy that she'd learnt earlier. Thinking back to the emotions she'd felt from Megan, she let her mind re-picture the colours, lines and images that had made up her aura as she looked around.

It took a moment before she felt the pull of that energy.

Following it without a thought, she wanted to shout in joy once more when she managed to find her goal.

There was a white energy surrounding Megan as she approached and Mai couldn't help but gasp as she got closer and realised that it was actually a spiritual form.

“Elizabeth?” She whispered, smiling at the form in front of her as it slowly materialised.

She looked the same as Mai remembered from her dreams and she couldn't help her happiness at the girl. It was clear from the spiritual barrier that was surrounding Megan that Elizabeth had been protecting her in the only way she could. It made so much sense.

Elizabeth smiled slightly as her and allowed her to approach her.

Stepping into the room that Megan was in, she allowed the girl a moment to react to her presence before shushing the crying that had begun.

“You need to be quiet or you'll alert him. I'm here to help.” She promised.

The girl in front of her eyed her suspiciously, but didn't continue crying, wiping away the tears that had formed.

“How can I know to trust you?” She demanded.

Mai was a little annoyed at the response but could understand the lack of faith in a strange spirit like girl appearing out of no-where when she'd been taken.

“I'm an old co-worker of Naru- I mean Oliver's. I worked with him in Japan and we've been called here to help you. It won't be long before we find you but until then, here is some water. Even though Elizabeth has been protecting you up until now, you have to be super dehydrated at this point.” Mai explained, carefully placing down the bottle of unopened water next to Megan.

The younger was still suspicious but it seemed that thirst won out and she reached for the bottle, swallowing some of the water eagerly.

Happy with her progress, Mai was about to say more before she felt an approaching presence.

“He's coming.” Elizabeth whispered towards her, the first words that Mai had heard from her since arriving in the house.

Despite already knowing this, Mai couldn't help the cold fear she felt.

Turning around, she readied herself for a fight but found herself being pushed back by Elizabeth. “You cannot stay. Go back and tell them. Tell them where she is. I don't have much more energy left.” She informed Mai.

Hesitating, the brunette flinched when he got closer.

“Go!”

Unable to hesitate further, Mai turned and ran back towards where her body was, praying to _Kami-sama*_ that Elizabeth would be able to hold out until they got back.

It took a moment for her to get back to her body but as she made it, she focused on relaxing herself once again to rejoin her body.

It was harder then before, a sense of urgency coursing through her.

Taking a deep breath, she refocused following the string that connected her spirit to her body and allowing herself to drift back into it.

Moments later, she felt herself completely re-joined and immediately placed her abilities on lock down, body feeling considerably drained from the use of so much energy in one go.

As she groaned in complaint, Lin was at her side in a second, kneeling down to her height. “Are you alright Taniyama- _san_?” He asked, a little worried. It had been almost an hour since she'd gone into her trance and he'd been unable to do anything but guard her dutifully.

As his words registered, Mai glared slightly. “I could almost swear that we had a talk about calling me _Taniyama-san_.” She scolded easily. However before they could focus on that, Mai's eyes widened. “We have to get the other's. I know where Megan is.”

It was then that Lin realised that at some point the water that she'd been holding had disappeared. He would have to try and find out more about that later. Mai had been positive that it would work but he'd only seen her do it once and he hadn't heard much about it being a concept before. There wasn't much to read on the subject of astral projection.

_'Focus Koujo._ ' He scolded himself. There were more important things then an new parapsychology study right now.

Pulling out his phone, he speed dialled one as he helped Mai to her feet.

Noll picked up straight away, voice no nonsense as always.

“Mai knows where Megan is.” He informed the teenager.

“Where?”

Looking over at Mai, he raised an eyebrow. “Third floor, right wing, second last door on the right.” She responded quickly.

“Did you get that Noll?”

“We'll be there shortly.”

Before he could hang up Mai, cut in. “Be quick. Benjamin's spirit is there right now and he wasn't happy.” She informed, already moving to leave the room.

Lin followed behind her quickly, not wanting the girl to run off on her own as had always been her habit.

Going up the stairs quickly, Mai was practically sprinting by the time she hit the top of the stairs and turned right.

Following her quickly, Lin wanted to growl at her impatience. He understood why she was moving quickly but what good would it do anyone if she ended up hurt?

He wasn't sure if it was comforting or irritating that this habit hadn't changed as he came to a stop in front of the door that Mai had attempted to open.

“It won't budge. There's a block on it.” She informed him, analysing the energy that was spread over the door with irritation.

Without a thought, Lin whistled and watched as his _shiki_ ran through the door, effectively putting a hole in the defences long enough for him to get the door open.

It was an odd experience to watch Lin do this while being able to actually _see_ what was happening.

Shaking her fascination, she frowned as they came to an open room. Closing her eyes, she focused on feeling it out. It was no wonder they hadn't found Megan yet if the room wasn't actually a normal room.

It didn't take her long to catch Megan's aura as she sense the room.

Following it's pull, she could have hit herself as she ended up in front of the cupboard. _'Why is it always a cupboard?'_ She couldn't help but grouch as she puled open the doors to find another set inside.

“In here.” She informed Lin who had been following her movements closely.

In the distance they could hear the other's approaching but before Lin could suggest they wait a moment, there was a scream from inside the room.

Without a second thought, Mai swung the door open, running into the room.

“Damn it.” Lin cursed, following after her without hesitation. He'd expected this but it had been a while since he'd had to deal with someone this impulsive.

Entering the dark room, it took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the darkness but as soon as they did, he found himself watching as the spirit of Benjamin edged closer and closer to Megan.

There was a faint glow around Megan but the closer he got the more it was fading. “Elizabeth won't be able to hold on much longer. Do something!” Mai shouted at the Chinese man, jolting him into action.

Whistling, he commanded his _shiki_ to attack Benjamin, watching as he was momentarily side tracked to turn towards them.

Glaring at them, he changed destination, approaching them. “How dare you get in my way.” He spat, glaring at Lin. “I didn't interfere with your women so you have no right to interfere with mine.”

_'Well that answers that question_.' Mai thought miserably. No wonder they hadn't been attacked up until now.

But it seemed that was about to change.

Mai could feel the waves of his anger even more as he got closer, Lin's _shiki_ not doing enough to keep him back even as she could see the effect it was having on his spiritual form.

“He doesn't care what he has to do to accomplish his goals.” She realised, voice quiet as it dawned on her just how little Benjamin cared about _anything_ including his own spirit.

Lin seemed to be thinking the same thing because he was getting rougher with his attacks, _shiki_ glowing more as they made their attacks, spiritual energy pouring into them from Lin as he tried to keep them at bay.

Just as it was becoming a hopeless case, Mai heard the familiar chanting of Fudo Myo-o** approaching.

“ _Naumaku sanmanda bazaradankan.”_

Stepping into the room, Mai could already see the difference it was having to have Bou-san chant and summoned what energy she had left to form her own hand signals and chant with him. Completing the Fudo Myo-o*, she pressed forwards to form the Kuji-In*** after her own chant.

“ _Rin, Pyo, To, Sha, Kai, Jin, Retsu, Zai, Zen.”_ The arm movements felt natural as she felt moved her arms into the nine cuts, watching as Benjamin's spirit recoils at the sudden additions to his exorcism.

Unable to continue after her first go, Mai relaxed slightly when John stepped into the room with his bible in hand, focusing on the spirit as he recited from it.

“In the beginning there was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.”

Finally, Benjamin's spirit let out an angry scream as it felt itself being fully drained, spirit slowly fading into nothing.

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

* This is the Japanese name for God.

** This is the formal name of the Buddhist chant that Bou-san uses in the anime.

*** This is the Japanese name for the nine cuts that Mai gets taught in the anime.

 


	9. Chapter 9

Here's another chapter for your enjoyment! Like usual, it was hard to get it going but once I did, I had a hard time stopping. I actually have no idea how this chapter became like this... Originally I wanted this chapter to wrap things up and then get them back to the Davis' mansion but apparently my muse had different ideas. Plenty of Mai/Naru moments to be found here though! Leave a review if you enjoyed and just a reminder, if you guys have any ideas for moments between character's that you'd like to know more about or just cute things that you'd like to see happen, make sure to let me know! You will of course be credited for anything used.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Ghost Hunt

**Chapter Key:**

“English Speaking”

“ _Japanese Speaking”_

_'Thinking'_

_Flashback_

**Chapter Nine**

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

For a moment the room was silent, a sudden calm spreading through the room as the last of Benjamin's hold over the house was severed.

As his spirit disappeared, Mai watched at the shimmering white from beside Megan slowly faded away. For a moment Mai thought she could see a gold wash before Elizabeth completely faded from view, her spirit finally moving on now that she no longer needed to protect anyone.

Without a thought, Mai rushed over to Megan who was lying on the ground, out cold. She had given her water and the evidence of it being drunk was next to her., the empty bottle laying on the ground at the wall.

Kneeling down, Mai felt a wave of exhaustion come over her as the adrenaline triggered energy began to fade from her body, leaving behind only tiredness.

Ignoring it for the moment, she gave Megan a quick once over, happy to see that outside of being a little cold and probably malnourished with her dehydration, there wasn't a scratch on her.

An irritated cough came from next her and Mai looked up only to wince slightly and look away immediately when she came face to face with an angry Naru.

Picking up the empty bottle of water from next to Megan, Noll looked at it sceptically. He didn't have details over what Mai had done to get the information that she had but he'd find out.

“I want an explanation.” He demanded.

Mai nodded in understanding as she shook Megan slightly. “As soon as we finish wrapping up, I’ll explain everything.” She promised.

Even though he wanted to push for more details, Noll had to admit that it was better to wait until Megan was taken care of.

Beside him, John approached as Megan finally came to.

Noticing Mai, she blinked in surprise. “You're actually real?” She whispered, amazed.

The brunette smiled sweetly at the girl. “Of course. But don't worry about that for now. I think it's about time someone got you some food and water. And something warmer.” She commented.

As if only just realising how cold she was, Megan shivered.

Almost instantly the Australian pulled off his own jacket, offering it to the girl.

Smiling at him, Megan took it, wrapping herself up tightly as she was helped up.

Satisfied that the young girl would be okay, Mai pushed herself up off the ground before stumbling slightly at how heavy she felt.

From next to her, Naru caught the moment she struggled and was already there as she began to fall, grabbing a hold of her arm and pulling her into his side.

“Idiot.” He growled, annoyed. If she had been so tired why didn't she just say so?

As if reading his thoughts, Mai winced a little. “Sorry, I didn't even realise how drained I was with all the adrenaline coursing through me before.”

It wasn't a complete lie. She knew that she was exhausted before she'd even attempted the warding magic earlier – just not to the extent that she'd need help to walk.

Oliver fought the urge to roll his eyes at her, wrapping his arm around her to help keep her standing as they moved. “Like I said. Idiot.”

Refusing to rise to the bait, Mai didn't respond despite the flare of anger at him, focusing instead on putting each foot in front of each other.

Soon however it became clear that if they continued like this then it would take all year to get back to base.

Sighing in annoyance, Noll weighed his options. He didn't particularly care to carry Mai all the way down three flights of stairs but he also didn't want to be here all year.

Debating his options, he rolled his eyes and gave in as he watched Mai wobble slightly despite her insistence that she could walk.

Moving his other arm, he easily placed it under the bend of her knees before Mai could realise what was happening and pulled her into a princess style hold.

Letting out a squeak of surprise, Mai's entire face flushed at the position she found herself in. “Naru! Put me down.” She growled, angry more at her embarrassment then out of real anger.

Oliver gave her a pointed look and raised an eyebrow in response to her anger. “If I put you down then we'll have to continue going back to base at a snails pace. Even you must be able to see that this will be more efficient.” He informed.

Glaring at him, Mai huffed at his comment. “And just what is 'even you' supposed to mean, you jerk!”

Smirking at her predictable response, he gave her a pointed look at he reached the hallway. “If you can't figure even that much out then maybe I should put even less faith in your intelligence.”

This time Mai couldn't help but raise properly to the bait, squirming in his arms in an attempt to escape his hold so she could yell at him properly for being so rude.

Struggling to keep a hold of her, Naru glared at her properly this time. “If you don't stop that I'm going to drop you.” He informed her coldly.

Glaring back, Mai pouted. “You could just put me down and let me walk.” She reminded. “And besides, you're the one that made me angry in the first place. What did you expect to happen?”

Even he had to concede that point, even if only in his head. But Noll couldn't help it. Her reactions were always so entertaining.

“I _expected_ you to be able to realise that it wasn't a good idea to move around when someone is carrying you so that you don't fall down the next flight of stairs from exhaustion.”

Mai pouted but conceded to his own point as she fell silent and let him do as he wanted. Like he wouldn't anyway. _'Stupid jerk.'_

Feeling the fight drain from her, Naru was satisfied as he finally made it to the bottom of the stairs.

Naru had almost made it to the base when Mai began to squirm in an attempt to escape his hold again.

“Would you stop that?” He asked, glaring at her again.

Mai flushed under his gaze and looked away. “But I don't want to be carried into base. I can walk on my own.” She mumbled, slightly embarrassed to admit her current predicament. It wasn't like it was the first time she'd been carried by any of the members but this felt different. Especially after it had been so long and Mai was fighting so hard to prove how much she'dmatured and grown as a psychic. Being carried like this made her feel weak in a way she wished she didn't.

Looking down at her carefully, Noll sighed internally. Of course she would rather worry about things like that instead of her own health.

_'So would you in her situation'_ A voice in the back of his mind reminded him and for once he didn't have a valid response for it.

“Fine.” He agreed after a moment.

Carefully, he let go of Mai's leg's first, gently placing her back on the ground but sticking close in case she decided to take an impromptu fall.

Focusing on steadying herself, Mai felt the tension ease from her body as she was once more back on the ground and out of Naru's warm- _'Don't think about it!'_

“Stop getting lost in thought before I change my mind and decide to carry you the rest of the way.” Naru scolded, amused by the flush of embarrassment that was quickly becoming one of anger.

“You jerk!” Mai shouted, crossing her arms as she began to walk slowly towards the base.

Focusing on putting one foot in the other without anything bad happening, it took more than twice as long as it needed to in order to get to base, but Naru didn't say anything in a rare show of patience.

Opening the door however, he couldn't help but wish that they'd taken even longer.

Inside the room, Madoka and Yasu were interrogating a worn out looking, Lin, Bou-san and John without actually giving them any time to respond to the questions that they were asking.

Ayako was checking them over to make sure that there was nothing wrong outside of exhaustion.

As far out of the way as she could be, Masako sat primly, sipping quietly at a cup of tea as she perused her phone, doing her best to ignore the chaos of the room she was on. Honestly, why did she put up with these people again?

Because of the noise, no-one seemed to have noticed an incredibly annoyed Naru and Mai standing at the door.

“If we turn around now, we could probably escape without them noticing us.” Mai muttered to Naru quietly in a hopeful voice.

Oliver didn't want to admit it but it was a tempting offer. Sadly however, he wanted to get this case wrapped up so it wasn't an option to _avoid – not_ run away, Oliver Davis doesn't run away from _anything –_ this chaos.

Stepping into the room, he cleared his throat in an attempt to grab their attention.

Sadly however, the effect he was hoping for never came and he settled for glaring harshly at them while he waited for them to realise he was in the room.

If nothing else, he was hoping to see their faces go pale when they noticed him and realised that they'd been ignoring him for their petty squabbles – not to mention wasting his time.

Mai wasn't nearly as patient as Naru however. Her head was beginning to hurt from the noise level that was in the room and Ayako was shouting at Bou-san for god-knows what all of a sudden and it was just making her exhaustion worse.

Setting her best Naru glare on the room along side him, she leant against the doorway carefully as she brought her fingers to her lips and let out a loud whistle that would – and did though he would never mention it to her – impress Lin.

Almost instantly, the chaos fell into silence and the group looked over to see two equally unimpressed teenagers standing next to each other.

“If you are quite done causing a scene and making yourselves look like a pack of unruly children, I would like to wrap this case up.” Naru informed them coldly.

His sense of satisfaction kicked back in when he did get to see most of their faces lose colour at the sight of him.

Even Madoka seemed to realise that she was also being ridiculous because she didn't call him out on his rudeness.

“Where's Megan?” Mai asked, glancing around the room as she carefully moved towards the full couch.

John smiled and considered moving to help the girl but had a feeling it would be an unwanted assist. “She's sleeping in her room. Now that the spirit is gone, we thought it was best for her to stay in her own room. Ayako made her take some nutrient supplements and drink some more water before she let her go and she wants to do another check up later to make sure she's healing fine.” He reported, aiming his response at both Mai and Naru.

Letting out a relieved sigh as she leant against the couch instead now, Mai smiled. “That's good.”

“In that case, I'm going to call Gwendolyn and my father and let them know that this case is solved. When I get back, I expect you all to be ready so that we can go over the events of today. I'll also require a full case report from each of your perspectives.” Oliver informed them, turning to leave the room and make his call.

There was a resounding groan at his words, but no-one made any further complaints when he tossed a glare over his shoulder before shutting the door behind himself.

Almost as soon as he was gone, the noise was back but this time it was directed at Mai.

“So Mai, tell us what happened? Four hours alone with Lin-san _and_ some alone time with Naru on the way back. I never knew you were so quick to move.” Yasu snickered, sending a wink her way so that there was no question about what he was alluding to.

Flushing slightly at the implications, Mai glared at her best friend as everyone else – except Lin – laughed at her expense.

Huffing, Mai crossed her arms as she glared at her best friend before her mind caught onto his words. “Wait we were gone for _four hours_?” She gaped at them.

Madoka's eyebrows furrowed at her shock. “Well yeah, you didn't realise?” She inquired, curious now.

Shaking her head, Mai winced a little at the thought of Lin having to stay alone with her for four hours with nothing to do just because she needed to drag someone alone with her.

“Time on the astral plane where I was works different then it does. The saying 'Time is relative' really is no joke. It honestly felt like thirty minutes to me as most.” The brunette mumbled, sending an apologetic look over at Lin.

Madoka hummed in thought at the new information. It would seem that Noll, Lin and Martin's decision to give Mai a full-on interrogation might be for the best. This was just another of probably many more interesting facts that Mai can give them first-hand knowledge about.

A little worried by the sudden look of interest on Madoka's face, Mai began inching a little further away before catching sight of the bed. As if it was calling to her, Mai found herself moving towards it.

Before she could get too far however, the other's were asking even more questions.

“Don't change the subject anyway. What happened? You were gone for so long and then suddenly when we were considering going up to see how you guys were doing Naru gets a call and he's sending us up to a malicious ghost to exorcise it without warning saying that you guys had found Megan. It was quite jarring you know.” Bou-san informs her.

“Yeah and how did you even figure that out? What were you doing astral projecting?” Ayako added on, her own eyebrows furrowed as she considered everything further.

“And then there was that glowing light surrounding Megan when we got in there although it was gone pretty quickly. Do you know anything about it?” Bou-san continued on, even more curious about that. It was the first time he'd seen anything like it.

All of the questions were making Mai equal parts annoyed and dizzy as she focused on understanding them and considering their questions without falling over.

What strength she had built up earlier was quickly failing her and her instincts were screaming that if she didn't make it to the bed pronto she'd be making the ground her home.

Luckily she made it over to the bed without tripping - although it was a close call at one point - ignoring the questions as they continued to fly towards her, barely even registering them as any more than sounds at this point.

Sitting down before falling backwards, she didn't even realise that the interrogation had actually ended around the same time that she'd stopped hearing them as Ayako noticed that something seemed off.

“ _'m just gonna take a_ tiny _nap and then I'll answer your questions. Promise.”_ Mai muttered, switching back to Japanese without conscious thoughts.

Even though nothing else seemed to matter in her state, her brows furrowed slightly for a moment as she considered something seemingly important.

“ _Nobody tell Naru I took a nap. He'll get all glarey.”_

There was a round of snickers around the room before Yasu responded, all worries replaced with a sense of amusement for the situation. He'd forgotten how much fun Mai was when she was half asleep.

“ _Don't worry Mai-chan. Nobody will tell Naru.”_ He promised easily. After all, he wouldn't need to. There was no way she was waking up before he got back.

Standing up, Ayako made her way over to Mai and gently moved her into a more comfortable position as she gave the girl a quick once over and made sure that there wasn't anything else wrong.

She frowned at the sheer number of bruises she found but rolled her eyes as she remembered how clumsy Mai was.

Satisfied that there wasn't anything else wrong, she covered the brunette in a blanket and left her to sleep and recover. That was all they really could do.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

It was an hour later when Naru re-entered the room and true to Yasu's earlier prediction, Mai was still out cold.

Looking around, Naru narrowed his eyes when he didn't immediately see Mai sitting around chatting with the other's or causing some other problems.

Noticing their bosses predicament, Yasu smirked but didn't say anything. He'd promised his best friend after all.

“Welcome back big boss.” He chirped happily. “Did the calls go well?”

Stepping further into the room, he ignored the questions until he noticed that the bed off to the side in the room was occupied by a familiar body.

Ignoring the instant feeling of relief that flooded his body, he took a seat next to Lin over by the monitors and turned his attention back to the room.

“The calls went fine. Gwendolyn will be returning from work in an hour or so but her daughter and their husband will be home momentarily. They think it would be best if we spent the night and headed home tomorrow due to the late hour.” Naru reported, irritation leaking into his tone.

He had outright refused to stay another night originally – it was only an hour or so to get back to his house after all – but Gwendolyn had informed him that she'd be informing his mother if he didn't stay the night and surely he didn't want to worry her unnecessarily.

Even thinking about how she'd forced his hand made him angry.

“In light of this, I want to use what's left of the daylight productively and pack up base tonight so that we don't have to waste any more time tomorrow.” He informed them all.

As if on cue, there was a resounding collection of groans at the thought of lifting heavy equipment.

Fixing them all with a glare, he raised an eyebrow. “Is that going to be a problem?” He inquired coldly.

Gulping at his tone, Bou-san jumped up from the couch. “Nope. No problems at all Naru.” He assured easily.

Moving over to the shelves, he turned to give a thoughtful look over at the bed.

“Who should wake Mai up?” He asked, looking over at his young boss with a questioning look.

Naru gave him a look like he was an idiot for even suggesting something so stupid. “Just let her sleep.”

_'It's not like we're going to be able to wake her up in the first place. It's hard enough when she_ isn't _exhausted let alone when she is.'_ He reasoned.

Satisfied with the logical response he'd formed for his own peace of mind, he glared when he saw that no-one had moved any further since he'd spoken.

“Are you going to stand there all night looking like idiots or do your job?” Oliver demanded coldly, glaring at them. “If you don't make a move on you'll be carrying equipment in the dark.”

Snapping to attention, there was a chorus of various “Yes Naru!”'s around the room before everyone jumped into action.

Ayako and Masako shot an envious look over at the bed where Mai was still sleeping away, completely unaware of their gazes.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Mai groaned slightly as she turned over on the soft mattress, her mind slowly coming too as she registered her surroundings.

Staring blankly at the wall she was now facing, her eyebrows furrowed. _'How did I get here?'_

Thinking back over the events from earlier, the brunette groaned when she realised that she'd fallen asleep in the end.

Rolling over, Mai blinked at the darkness in the room and lack of equipment. They'd packed everything up already?

Pushing herself up slowly from the bed, Mai winced at the exhaustion she could still feel in her bones. Her sleep had made her more exhausted then she'd felt earlier.

Just as she was considering laying back down and going back to sleep, her stomach grumbled.

Now that she thought about it, she'd missed a lot of meals already today hadn't she?

Sighing, she flopped back as she considered her options. Food or sleep?

A ridiculous thought came to mind making her giggle slightly at the prospect. _'How is it that this feels like the hardest decision of my life all of a sudden?'_ She wondered, rolling her eyes at her own silliness.

When her stomach growled at her again, the teen sighed. Apparently she didn't need to think so hard after all.

Forcing herself back up, Mai slowly crept across the room, careful not to trip over anything in the dim light of the room before she reached the door.

Pulling it open quietly, she blinked a little at the slight change in brightness, but otherwise frowned a little when she didn't see any of the others sitting around.

Walking over to the lounge where she'd be expecting to see then hanging around, Mai felt her eye's widen when she caught sight of a digital clock that displayed the time. _'When did it become midnight?!'_

It made sense why no-one was awake at least – even if she was a little shocked that Lin and Naru weren't still sitting around and working considering what they were like.

Shaking her head, Mai made her way over to the kitchen, careful not to hit anything on her way past.

Seeing the light switches off to the side, she made a B-line for them and sighed in relief when they came to life and she no longer had to walk around half blind.

Walking over to the counter , she checked their was water in the electric kettle before flicking it on to boil.

Sighing, Mai glared at the cups as she reached up, finger's brushing gently against the cool surface of one as she struggled slightly before finally managing to grab one of the handles and pull it down.

Luckily, the tea was on a shelf below it so Mai quickly grabbed the ready made earl grey tea bags, pulling one out for herself before replacing it and reaching for the sugar.

Gently placing it on the counter next to her cup, she let the familiar movements sooth her exhausted mind. Even though in the past, the thought of making tea had made her angry, it now soothed her worries and she found it to be rather calming. Maybe that had something to do with her little shop in Tokyo? Or maybe it was just because she'd gotten used to using tea as a calming method whenever something was bothering her?

Lost in thought over the possible reasons for her change of heart, she didn't notice as someone walked up behind her before they were a around half a metre away.

“Make me a cup too.”

 


	10. Chapter 10

Another chapter for you guys! This was actually almost completely written last week so I didn't have to do much. Maybe I'll finally get ahead on chapters now, but who knows? Fun fact: I tried to plan out what I wanted to happen chapter by chapter or at least do up a time line for when I want things to happen in this story because I do actually have a full plot line for where things are going. Turns out, it's literally impossible for me. I couldn't get much down on paper at all. Clearly I am only cut out for writing things and waiting to see where they take me. Anyways, leave a review if you enjoyed and just a reminder, if you guys have any ideas for moments between character's that you'd like to know more about or just cute things that you'd like to see happen, make sure to let me know! You will of course be credited for anything used.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Ghost Hunt

**Chapter Key:**

“English Speaking”

“ _Japanese Speaking”_

_'Thinking'_

**Chapter Ten**

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

Jumping in surprise, Mai turned around faster than anything, arms raised like she was ready for an attack. If it weren't for her years of ghost hunting, she probably would have screamed in surprise at the interruption.

Upon realising who it was, Mai felt more anger than anything else.

“Naru, make some noise when you move.” She hissed at him, glaring at the smug look that was on his face.

Oliver couldn't help his smirk. When he'd noticed Mai was finally up and about, he had been about to make a request for tea, but she hadn't seemed to notice his presence yet. Then he'd considered what her face would look like if he surprised her and he couldn't help himself.

It was childish and if anyone else was around then he would've squashed the urge like a bug; he opted _not_ to consider why it was okay if Mai saw him being childish.

Then she'd gone and gotten lost in thought and it was a perfect opportunity. Any hope of squashing his urge fled along with what he assumed was the small amount of sanity he had left after spending an entire night dealing with the old SPR team. It would seem he'd forgotten just how irritating they used to be.

Seeing the slight mischievous twinkle that had taken place in Naru's eyes, Mai narrowed her eyes and pouted, attempting not to give him any further ammunition.

Not that he really needed her to do that, he seemed to come up with some from the most normal of situations without any help on her part.

Still, it was nice to see something other than the coldness that he usually portrayed in his eyes. It made her think back to the fake smile he's given her and her friends the first time that they'd met and how cold his eyes had been then.

And then that thought led her towards the time that he'd smiled at her after the case at Kasai's school.

Flushing at the memory, she turned away from Naru abruptly.

Curious as to what thoughts had made Mai flush like that, he felt a twinge of _something_ at the thought that she might no longer be thinking of him.

As if on automatic, he reached up over the brunette to grab a cup down for the tea that he'd requested (read:demanded) from her.

Giving him a confused look at the unexpected display – although if she thought about it, he'd done the same thing earlier hadn't he?- she moved to fill that cup with water as well.

“As amusing as it was to watch you struggle with your own cup earlier, I’d rather you _not_ accidentally knock them down and cause a scene.” He informed her at the look of confusion he's been given, smirking.

Blushing for a different reason now, Mai huffed. Just how long had Naru been standing there in the first place?

“Since just after you left the room you were in.” Naru informed simply, enjoying the reactions he was getting as he ignored the smug feeling he got when considering that her attention was a hundred percent back on him.

Oops, had she asked that aloud?

“Yes, you did. If you continue talking out loud when you're trying to think inside your head I might have to reconsider whether you were lying about your entrance into Cambridge.” He informed her.

Turning to him, Mai wanted to glare at him but she couldn't help but feel like he wasn't wrong. Without meaning to, Naru had hit a sore spot that she'd been struggling with ever since she'd even started planning the entrance paper that she wrote in order to get into Cambridge. Even from the beginning she'd worried about whether they would take her. After all, even though she'd studied hard to get to where she is now, she'd also missed a lot of school for various reasons. Maybe she wasn't ready for university yet. Maybe it would have been better if she'd just stuck to her original level of work and focused on living a more _normal_ life instead of following her dreams so early on.

Sensing that Mai was no longer with them, Naru frowned at the somewhat sad look that was on the brunette's features. He'd been trying to get her usual rise out of her, baiting her in the same way that he usual did.

An unpleasant feeling formed in his stomach at the thought that something that he'd said had caused her expression to change like that. _'Idiot. You couldn't at least wait until she'd fully recovered before causing her emotional distress?'_ He scolded himself.

How the hell was he supposed to deal with this situation anyway? Emotions were Gene's speciality. Oliver had made it his life mission to avoid them with a passion.

Shaking herself from her stupor, Mai turned back to the tea and finished preparing it before handing one to Naru.

If she hadn't been so distracted, she would have immediately noticed the conflicted look on his face. Luckily (or unluckily depending on your view) for Oliver, Mai was still too preoccupied with her thoughts.

Not quite ready to go back into bed just yet, Mai moved towards the lounge, taking a seat before breathing in the aroma of her tea. A tentative sip a moment later and she was feeling slightly better – even if her doubts about Cambridge were bouncing around her head once more.

Following after her, Noll was still at odds with himself, trying to decide what to do as he took a seat in the recliner to the couch's left, sipping at his own cup.

Unsure of what to say in order to break the silence that had fallen between them (ruining the earlier mood), Naru continued to think about what he could have set to upset Mai.

Thankfully he didn't have to worry for too long before Mai broke the silence on her own.

“Do- Do you think that it might actually be true?” She asked, voice quiet and vulnerable sounding.

Naru frowned in response. “What might be true?”

“That I'm not ready for Cambridge. That I won't be good enough.” The brunette elaborated, finally looking up from her tea to make eye contact with Naru, her eyes just as vulnerable.

Swallowing thickly, her expression suddenly made so much more sense to him.

_'Gene's right. I'm such an idiot scientist.'_ He thought, scolding himself for his careless choice of words earlier.

Thinking about how to word his response, he couldn't help but sigh.

Mai took his answer and then sigh as answer enough. Of course she wasn't ready. How had she managed to delude herself into thinking that she was?

“You're right, I'm an idiot. Of course I'm not ready for Cambridge. Who knows if I'll ever be ready.”

Shaking himself from his thoughts, his head snapped to where Mai was looking down at her lap again.

“Now you're actually being an idiot.” Wincing internally at himself, he was shocked when that got Mai to look up in surprise.

“Wha-”

“I said you're being an idiot. If you weren't ready for Cambridge then you never would have made it in.” He informed her simply, stating the facts.

“But-”

“No. Did you study hard?”

“Of course I did!” Mai cried out indignantly.

“Did you write up an entrance paper that got the board of directors – in particular my father's – attention and give them enough of a reason to admit you to Cambridge filled with scientific facts and statements that you built off with what I'm assuming would be real world experience?” Naru continued.

“Of course but-”

“And did my father and the rest of the board decide to admit you based on these results?”

“Yes but-”

Naru let out an annoyed sound as he glared slightly at Mai. “Then what are you worried for? If the people in charge of your scholarship thought you were ready then what's the problem?”

Glaring back at him, Mai pouted slightly. She could understand where he was coming from but somehow she still felt a little bit of doubt at her preparedness.

Rolling his eyes at the expression on her face, Noll sighed. “Mai, let me ask you this. Are you worried because you think that you lack the knowledge to compete with the other students at Cambridge, or are you worried that you're going to fail in the end despite your efforts and when you get back to Japan, everyone will be disappointed in you?”

Mai considered the question for a moment, understanding where Naru was coming from. Were her doubts because of her worries about leaving Japan or because she hadn't studied enough.

“Both... I think.” She admitted quietly.

“I agree. I think that most of your worries stem from your concern that you won't measure up and when that happens, the people around you will leave you or condemn you for not trying hard enough or for failing to understand the situation.” Oliver explained.

Mai nodded in understanding, ignoring the feeling of warmth that spread through her at the thought that Naru knew her so well, even after it had been so long.

“It's an unfounded worry.” He informed her.

Mai's head snapped up at that. “Huh?”

Rolling his eyes, Naru sighed. “Firstly, if you're worried about a lack of knowledge you'll be happy to know that given your real life experience with ghost hunting, you actually have a better understanding of everything then most of the other students do. Additionally, do you really think that my mother would forgive Lin, Madoka, Martin or myself if you were having trouble and we didn't help you to better understand the material you receive in class – not that I think it'll be an issue – and we didn't help you pass?” He pointed out. “Secondly, there's no way that if anything happened, any of those idiots that you consider your family would leave you. You'll probably be stuck with them for the rest of your life.”

Mai couldn't help but giggle a little at the tone of voice Naru used at the end, the warm feeling spreading through her body.

This wasn't the first time that she'd confessed her concerns about Cambridge but it was the first time that she'd actually felt like her worries were being put to rest.

“Does that mean that you'll help me study before term starts up?” Mai asked, looking over hopefully.

Noll rolled his eyes at her but couldn't help the small smile that wanted to appear on his face at her request. She could've asked any of the people she'd listed for help – not to mention Yasuhara - and all of them would've been glad to help her out. Instead she'd chosen to ask him.

“I suppose I might be able to make time in my busy schedule.”

Mai pouted at his response. “Narcissist.”

Pushing up from the couch and moving to put his cup in the sink for later he smirked at her response. There was the Mai he knew.

“Go to bed Mai. We leave early tomorrow.” He informed her as he walked towards the stairs to go to his own room.

Unwilling to ruin the moment, Mai smiled as he walked away. “Night Naru.”

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Even though she'd slept for so long before waking at midnight, Mai had no issues sleeping through until six in the morning when she found herself being woken by Ayako.

Groaning slightly, she blinked the sleep out of her eyes as she turned to the priestess. “Morning already?” She couldn't help but whine, getting an unimpressed look from her friend.

“Hurry up and get ready to go. I brought you your bag so just get changed and make sure you have everything. Naru wants to leave within the hour and if you have any hope of getting breakfast you'll want to move fast.” She informed Mai.

Sighing, Mai waited until the door clicked shut behind Ayako before getting up and changing into a clean pair of jeans and a new long sleeved shirt. Throwing a jumper on over top, Mai double checked her bag to make sure everything was still in there, before swinging over her shoulder and stepping outside the room.

“Morning.” She greeted as she took a seat at the table, mouth watering at the sight of food. It wasn't much in comparison to the banquet they'd had before leaving the Davis', but after skipping lunch and dinner the sight of various cereals and toast with various spreads was more than enough for her.

Bou-san laughed slightly as he watched Mai immediately fill a bowl with some corn flakes and top them with milk, barely waiting until she replaced the carton of milk before she started shovelling it into her mouth.

“Calm down Mai. The food isn't going anywhere and if you keep going like that you'll just end up choking.” He warned her.

Pouting slightly, Mai wanted to argue but she knew that he was right.

Slowing down to eat a more normal pace, she flushed at the amused look Naru was sending her.

Huffing, she turned back to her food, ignoring him.

After that, breakfast passed in relative silence, everybody still a little tired after being woken so early and a little under an hour later, they were waving goodbye to Gwendolyn as they left the mansion behind.

Sighing, Mai stared out of the window for a moment longer, lamenting her own luck. How had she been the one to end up with the two silent members of their team _again_. Naru hadn't even made any demands this time around, Yasu had just pushed her towards the van and told her to “have fun” while he got in and shut the door to the other van.

Not for the first time, Mai wondered _why exactly_ she considered Yasu her best friend.

Shaking herself from her disappointment, she tried to look on the bright side. The silence was a nice change. She could appreciate that.

And she did.

For about twenty minutes.

In all honesty both Lin and Naru were both impressed that she'd made it that long before interrupted their silence.

“Naru.”

Said teen ignored her easily.

“Naaaaaru.”

His eyebrow twitched.

“Naruuuuuuu.” Mai whined, pulling out the most annoying voice she could manage.

Wincing at the decibel of it, Lin glared over at his charge.

_'Just answer her so she'll stop'_ He thought.

Noll glared right back before giving in.

“What do you want Mai?” He demanded, patience short.

Mai pouted at his tone. He'd been much nicer last night, she noted.

“I'm bored.” She informed him unnecessarily.

Noll rolled his eyes. Obviously. “What do you want me to do about it? Read a book or something.” He suggested.

Mai blinked at him before tilting her head. “I don't _have_ any books to read.” She stressed.

Looking at the bag at his feet, Naru ran through a mental list of the books he had on hand before reaching down to grab onethat he thought would interest her.

“Here, now be quiet.”

Mai grinned as she took the book from him, glancing down at the title. _Journeys Out of the Body: The classic work on out-of-body experiences_ by Robert A. Monroe*. She'd heard of it but she hadn't had a chance to go to the library and try and find a copy to read.

“Thanks Naru.” She chirped, before settling in to read.

The rest of the ride was blissfully silent.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Pulling up at the Davis' mansion, once more Mai couldn't help but be in awe of the building for a moment despite having already spent the night inside it once.

Stepping out of the van, she breathed deeply, enjoying the calmness of the area. After how tightly she'd had to keep her senses during the previous case, it was a relief to be able to just let go and not worry about it.

Now that she was standing here again, she could practically see the difference between the area surrounding the Baker's mansion and this one. The peace here was almost ten-fold.

“Earth to Mai.” Naru stated, trying once again to get the brunette's attention a second time.

He would have rolled his eyes at her but there was something about the expression on her face in that moment that made him reluctant to break her trance, let alone scold her for spacing out.

Now that he thought about it, hadn't she had a similar reaction when they'd gotten here the first time?

Thinking back a couple days, he remembered glancing over to see her with a similar expression on her face that time as well.

Curious. He would definitely need to ask her about that as well when he got the chance.

Breaking out of her stupor finally, Mai glanced behind herself to see an impatient looking Lin and Naru.

Flushing when she realised that she'd been holding them up, she smiled sheepishly. “Sorry. Are we going inside?” She asked.

As if on cue, the front doors both swung open to reveal Luella.

“Noll, Lin, Mai! Welcome back! Where are the others?” She inquired, voice cheerful.

“They had to stop for fuel on the way home, so they'll be a little longer yet.” Naru informed her, inwardly sighing at his mother's peppy nature.

At least he'd gotten relative silence for most of the trip here so he was prepared to deal with his mother being over-bearing for the rest of the afternoon.

“Well in that case, come on inside ahead of them. Martin is practically a child with how excited he looks to hear about everything that happened on this case. I don't know what you told him over the phone Noll, but he's barely been able to contain himself since your call last night. It was a nightmare to get him to put down whatever paranormal nonsense he was reading and come to bed.”

Luella's tone gave away what exactly she thought about _that_ particular issue.

Oliver wanted to sigh at the over-reaction. He hadn't even told his father anything exciting since he didn't have too many details when he called. In fact, he _still_ didn't have all the details – something that was slowly beginning to annoy him further. He was in charge of the case so why was it, that he was so out of the loop?

They'd had their report round up last night but he hadn't wanted to wake Mai when she clearly needed the rest so apart from the information that Lin knew, he was flying blind.

It was a feeling - he was discovering - he really detested.

Trailing after his mother, the three of them found themselves in the same lounge that they'd used the first night that the team had stayed here.

Taking a seat while Luella turned and left the room (citing that she had no interest in whatever case information they wanted to mull over), he wanted to roll his eyes at the fact that his mother hadn't been exaggerating. His father looked ready to jump out of his seat at any moment and demand answers from Mai if she didn't disclose everything that had happened.

“Welcome home. Sit, sit. Tell me everything.”

Mai wasn't really sure what to do other than follow suit and take a seat in the same spot that she'd claimed the first time she was in this room.

It wasn't that she didn't know how to deal with excitable men – between Bou-san and Yasu she had her work cut out for herself most of the time – but seeing her future _professor_ and the man who had been nothing short of a complete business man turned into something akin to a child about to hear a great bedtime story, she wasn't exactly sure how to approach the situation.

Seeing her hesitation, Oliver sighed. “If you insist on debriefing before the other's have already arrived, then perhaps we should mention what we already know and go from there.” He suggested. Considering her unconscious state, there was no-way she was sure of what exactly they'd already gone over and he'd rather avoid going over information they already knew.

Mai nodded. “That would help. I'm not sure where to start from but I can add in what I can.” She agreed easily, thankful for his input.

Martin nodded. “Alright.”

Pulling out his black notebook, Naru glanced down at his notes despite not needing them to remember everything. It was more out of habit then anything else.

“So, on arrival there was a distinct lack of activity outside of the emotions that you mentioned feeling when you go into the house and let your walls down.” Oliver noted, glancing over at Mai for her to confirm this.

“Yes. When I let my walls down was the only time I could really sense much in the way of anything, but the emotions in that house were stifling.” She confirmed easily.

Martin took note of this to ask more about later, his own notebook like Noll's appearing as he started to jot down the things he had questions about.

“Because the men were with the women the entire time outside of sleeping, none of them were touched by the spirit and since none of the household's women were around during the daytime, there was no activity. However, when you and Masako were walking around she mentioned feeling the angry spirit as well as another one that we now know was the mother who was concealing herself and felt protective.” Noll continued.

Mai hummed a little as she recalled the conversation they'd had but didn't add anything to it. There was nothing to add really. If there had of been, they would have said so at the time.

At her silence, Noll continued on. “After that, the night passed quietly and then out of no-where the next day, you decided to run off without explaining what you were going to do. We sat around for hours with radio silence, trusting that Lin was keeping you safe with _whatever_ you were doing and just before we all went looking for you, I had a phone call about Megan's location and was informed that the spirit was about to make it's move on her.”

There was a level of coldness in his voice when he explained this part of the story that made Mai wince.

Luckily, Martin didn't seem to notice the change in tone as he made a couple more notes in his notebook and turned to Mai to hear her side of the story from this point. In all honesty, this is what he'd been waiting on.

Swallowing a little, Mai organised her thoughts to the best of her ability as she started her own recollection. “When we were sitting around, I was frustrated that Megan was in danger and I was thinking about what I could do to try and speed up our progress and maybe get something to Megan to help keep her alive and I remembered that on a couple of occasions such as with Masako on the Urado case, I've been able to astral project on this plane of existence and when I do, I can actually give items to people. With Masako she got my keys and I was hoping that if that was the case then I could give her water to hold her.” She explained. “I also thought that I might be able to get some clues as to where she was so that we could get to her.”

Martin and Noll both made notes about this, corroborating this information with what they knew so far while Mai continued.

“Sometimes it was be hard to find a specific plan of existence and even then, it can also be hard to locate someone so I took Lin to Megan's room because if spend time surrounded by their residual energy before I astral project, it can give me something to focus on and that makes it easier to find someone. It's not a very solid plan, I’ve only managed to do it a couple times since I've started experimenting with options so I wasn't even sure it would work.”

“You still should have mentioned something before you left so that I knew what you were attempting to do.” Noll cut in, an irritated look on his face.

Mai shook her head. “If I had mentioned it then there would have been a certain _expectation_ that I manage it this time around and that would have made me nervous and being nervous would have made it harder to astral project and then it probably _wouldn't_ have worked.” She informed him simply.

Glaring at her comment, Oliver didn't speak on it any more but resolved himself to lecture her later on.

“As you are aware though, it did work and I managed to make it to Megan and give her the water to keep her hydrated until we could get to her. I took note of my surroundings to be able to tell you guys where to get to her and then I communicated with Elizabeth who was guarding Megan to keep her safe and she told me that he was coming so I forced myself back to my body and you should know the rest.” Mai finished off.

There was silence in the room for a moment while the three men thought over what they'd been told and debated over their new information. However before any more questions could be asked there was the sound of loud laughter and foot steps just down the hall.

Noll scowled. There went his quiet.

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

*This is a real book title and as such I claim no rights over it. In fact, most – if not all – of the titles I use in this story will be real books (not that I’ve read any of them because I’d have to find a PDF version and that's practically impossible). I am doing a substantial amount of studying on various subjects surrounding parapsychology and psychology for this story (and my own curiosity). On that note, if you guys have any good sources then I'd love to know about them!

 


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back with another chapter for you guys! Warning, this chapters starts off rather heavy in the explanations and info dumping territory. It's not actually that much in regards to what you'll read but it is a little long winded and essay-ish. Which is why the second half of this chapter is so heavily in the opposite direction. I thought it would be easy to write the domestic moments but this time around they just didn't seem to flow to I apologise if anything seems a little off or doesn't run as nicely as it should. Disclaimer; I don't know anything about London, London's tourist attractions or anything else regarding England in general. I did a little bit of research on the subject but if anything is incorrect please feel free to let me know. Also, leave a review if you enjoyed and just a reminder, if you guys have any ideas for moments between character's that you'd like to know more about or just cute things that you'd like to see happen, make sure to let me know! You will of course be credited for anything used.
> 
> Additionally, let me pose a question to you guys. I was thinking of adding dates to some of these chapters to give you guys a better idea of how much time passes by and so we can keep track of the different events that happen at different times to what they will in real life because of how things work from a plot point in general. E.g. Easter in the story probably won't happen until way after Easter has actually occurred, and it will probably be the same for the birthdays and any other important events. So I guess the question is, where do you guys think I should add these dates? I can put them in the actual story whenever a new day begins, or I was thinking of making them the titles for the chapters so that they don't interfere with the flow of things. Let me know what you think or of course you can suggest a different options if you think of one!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt

 

**Chapter Key:**

“English Speaking”

“ _Japanese Speaking”_

_'Thinking'_

**Chapter Eleven**

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

As the door swung open and Madoka stepped into the room, followed closely by Ayako and then the others, she grinned brightly at them all, completely uncaring of the look on Noll's face, opting to address Martin.

“So, what did I miss?” She inquired as she took a seat on the couch on Mai's right, placing herself directly next to Lin's recliner leaving the others to figure out where to sit, Yasu immediately taking his spot on Mai's other side.

It didn't take long for Martin to catch them up, Yasu paying particular attention so that he could make adjustments and add more notes to what he already had saved on Mai's abilities.

“Wah, my _Jou-chan_ is so amazing.” Bou-san cheered from his spot on a different couch making Mai flush. Stupid Monk, was he pretending to be a 'soccer mum' or something?

Oliver rolled his eyes at the show, smirking at the embarrassment on Mai's face. Despite the way he was going about things, Takigawa had a good point. Mai's abilities were rather well developed at this point and more then a little interesting. Maybe he should write a book on them?

It was definitely something to consider asking her about at a later point in time. He could add that to his mental list that seemed to have doubled in length since Mai (and the rest of JSPR) had come to England.

Thinking about his list, maybe it was time to wipe a couple of those things off. Before Noll could even get a word out edgewise on the subject of Mai's abilities and the full page of questions he had about them however Martin beat him to it.

“Since we have the time now, perhaps you can give us a better run down of your abilities. And I have some questions for you about your entrance paper for the scholarship program as well if you wouldn't mind.” The elderly man inquired.

Mai smiled at him. “Of course not. I'll answer as many questions as I can to the best of my ability within reason.” She assured him.

Martin nodded back at her. “In that case, we can start with the energy sensing that you mentioned earlier that you used on the case. It wasn't mentioned when we spoke about your abilities before the case and after finding out that you were the one who took our scholarship and when I looked up your entrance paper, I couldn't help but think that this was a major ability to leave out.” He commented. “What can you tell me about it?”

This caught Naru's attention. He hadn't had a chance to read the entrance papers by the student – honestly he wasn't going to put too much stock in something someone wrote with no background of proper parapsychological study and simply decided that he would get to them at a later date – so he wasn't sure what his father was talking about. But if it gave him a better understanding of Mai's abilities then he would have to read it later on.

Tilting her head, Mai hummed in acknowledgement of the question as she took a moment to put her understanding of her abilities into an acceptable English sentence.

“I left energy sensing out of my last explanation because of how much there is to explain on its subject. If you remember, I mentioned that I was too tired to do much justice to some of my abilities explanations? This is probably the main one.” She explained. “Energy sensing is the term I use for when I read the aura of different objects. It runs along the same vein as aura sensing for me, an ability that I have become quite good with. I define the difference between them as whether I have a living person in front of me for the aura to attach to or if it's just left over energy from the auras that form a finger print of sorts on different places and objects.”

Martin nodded, making various notes in his notebook while Naru quickly jotted down Mai's definitions for later reference since it wasn't a term that was used currently.

“What does energy sensing usually entail? How do you do it and how does it help in real world situations?” Martin inquired after a moment, curiosity very peaked.

Biting her lip, Mai debated over that for a moment. “It's not really something I can explain doing but I guess it's similar to how a medium senses a spirit?” She offered, looking over at Masako for her agreement or disagreement knowing that the girl had been with her enough in that situation to understand what she meant.

Masako nodded, her kimono coming up to cover her mouth. “Indeed, Mai is correct. What she's termed “energy sensing” is one of the main parts of being a medium. It involves opening yourself up to the emotions of the spirit and letting their intentions and emotions wash over you. That is more than enough for a basic reading. And then just like with a medium, it is possible to learn to look for something specific or focus on a singular area or object to get a more detailed reading.”

More notes were taken down as Mai took over the explanation again, smiling at her friend for her help.

“Right. So mostly I just relax and let the energies flow over me while keeping calm so I don't taint what the spirit or person has felt. Unlike how a medium is limited to just a spirits emotions and feelings that are more centralised in the past, It's much easier for me to sense something more recent and I can sense emotions left behind by those who are alive as well. If I can sense things from long ago then it's usually because of the sheer power of the emotions. The more strongly I feel it, the more the person who experienced that emotion in the past felt it. If their ghost is still present this is doubly true, as was the case this time around, because I can sense their past emotions and the emotions they are still experiencing after death.”

“And their application in the field?” Martin prodded, no longer looking up and instead permanently fixed on his note taking.

The thought that he looked a lot like how Mai imagined herself and Yasu would be in a couple months made her want to giggle before she refocused.

“Right. It gives me an accurate reading of the emotions of a person, not just a spirit which allows for the creation of questions that are more suited such as “how or why did these emotions come into play”. It's also useful for a _Jourei_ style exorcism*. It can also be used like I did yesterday in order to find people or other beings as long as I have enough of their energy memories and focus on it enough.” She informed.

Martin nodded in understanding. “And having tested this on case with witnesses gives some extra credibility to your words, although it would have been better if I could get it captured on tape.” He muttered excitedly.

Mai chose not to grace that with a response. She could understand the desire but at the moment, she wasn't sure if experimentation was really her goal with her abilities. It was something to consider for later on in the year, she supposed.

Before the questions could pick back up, there was a quiet knock at the door before Luella let herself into the room. “It's time for lunch.” She proclaimed.

Looking down at his watch, Martin blinked in surprise. “Where _did_ the time go?” He commented. “We'll just have to pick this back up later.”

Luella gave him an unimpressed look. “You better be thinking of _much_ later. I've left you to monopolise them all morning but surely it can't hurt to give them a break this afternoon and let them do some sightseeing.”

Grinning at her best friend, Madoka bounced up off the couch. “Of course. There will be plenty of time after dinner to focus more on things like this and Mai's going to be around for the foreseeable future so you can just focus on thinking up more questions for her until then.” She agreed.

Naru wanted to growl in annoyance. Between Madoka and Luella, there was no way any more work or research would be done with the rest of JSPR today. At least it would give him a chance to locate Mai's entrance paper and give in a few reads over so that he had more questions next time and wouldn't be as in the dark seeing as the other's all looked as if they'd read it.

Trailing after everyone slowly, he sighed as he sat down in what had essentially become 'his' seat at this point, watching as everyone else did the same thing.

Luella smiled at them all as they started digging into the lunch that was spread on the table, various sandwiches, cut up fruits and pitchers of juice and water placed strategically for everyone to grab.

“So. Which places were you guys thinking of looking at while you were here? Are there any particular sights you really want to see?” The blonde woman inquired.

Bou-san grinned. “Big Ben!” He cheered.

Ayako rolled her eyes at his enthusiasm but refrained from taking aim at his head just this once feeling soft at the childlike glee he was exhibiting.

Smiling kindly, Luella nodded at him. “Of course. Big Ben is a classic must. Is there anywhere else is particular?”

John smiled at her. “I'd like to go to the Cathedral.” He piped up shyly.

Smirking slightly, Yasu looked over at the monk. “I would love the chance to ride the London Eye. With my beloved Bou-san of course. Just imagine the romance.” He sighed, putting on his best love-struck look and wasn't disappointed by the disgusted look her got in response.

Mai laughed at her friend. “I think maybe you should leave the romantic ride on the London Eye with Bou-san to Ayako.”

Clutching his heart dramatically, he turned to his best friend looking crest-fallen. “But Mai- _chan,_ can't you imagine the chance? Until now he's refused to admit his love for me, for fear of retribution from those around us. But away from prying eyes and ears, we can finally be free to profess our love without ridicule.” He exclaimed.

From across the table, Martin looked like he was unsure of how to take this development, looking between the older male and Yasu in confusion and then over to Ayako who was looking more and more angry.

Mai rolled her eyes at her friend. “Yasu,if you leave them be then you can ride together with me.” She offered before putting on her best unsure look, making herself as pitiful as possible. “Unless of course you don't want to ride with me?”

Looking at her, Yasuhara felt himself cave even though he knew it was just an act. “Fine. You'll probably be better company anyway. Just don't think of confessing to me at the top. I only have room for one true love.” He informed her with the most serious look he could muster.

Naru eyed them sceptically, eyes narrowed slightly as he listened to them converse. Everyone else seemed to find the current situation amusing but there was something about it that made his chest clench tightly and him anger rise.

Ignoring his emotions, he turned back to his food trying his best not to think of Mai and Yasuhara in the same sentence, especially in relation to any confessions.

 _'Why does it matter. They're just joking around like always.'_ He thought to himself. And yet knowing this didn't change the situation.

Part of him was tempted to go on this sightseeing excursion to, to, to do what?

Just what would he do?

This was ridiculous and exactly the reason why he avoided _emotions_. They were messy, confusing and a hindrance to his thought process. Sightseeing would be a waste of an afternoon where he could be getting work done instead.

As if sensing his inner turmoil, Madoka looked over at him from her spot.

“How about it Noll?”

Naru looked over at her in irritation. “How about what?”

The pink-haired woman rolled her eyes at his tone. “Koujo and Martin have all agreed to come along today. We were thinking of going to dinner after we've seen some of the sights. You'll come as well, won't you?”

The way it was phrased made it seem like a question but Naru narrowed his eyes at her because it was clearly a thinly veiled demand.

“I would much rather spend the afternoon doing something more practical.” He insisted.

Luella looked over at him and he already knew he'd lost by the expression on her face.

“Surely the work isn't so urgent that it needs to be done this afternoon? You've just gotten back from a case that finished up earlier than accounted for and your old team from Japan is only here for another week. It'll be a while before you see most of them.”

Her voice was both imploring and scolding at the same time as she watched her son carefully.

Letting out an inaudible sigh, Noll nodded in agreement. “Very well. However if we're sightseeing we're going to the National History Museum.”

If he was going to spend the afternoon out, he may as well go somewhere that he can stand.

However when Luella smiled widely at him, he couldn't bring himself to hold too much of a grudge against her request.

“Of course one afternoon isn't enough for close to most of the sights that London has to offer so we'll have to dedicate tomorrow to seeing more things without Lin, Noll and Martin's valuable company.” Luella mused, already planning out some of the other sights that they would have to fit in for the group before they left.

Madoka nodded in agreement. “Well, how about we just got see what we can fit in this afternoon and we'll go from there.”

As everyone made varying sounds of agreement, everyone finished up with lunch and agreed to take a moment to set themselves back up in the rooms they'd stayed in the firs night they'd been at the Davis' mansion and meet up again in the front of the mansion later on.

Watching her family file out of the room, Mai glanced at Naru nervously.

Catching the look on her face, he sighed. “You've forgotten where your room is, haven't you?”

Flushing pink Mai crossed her arms and puffed her cheeks out slightly. “I can't help it if this place is so big!” She defended weakly.

Naru rolled his eyes. “Come on idiot.” He muttered, grabbing her bag from the floor next to where the brunette had been sitting before moving out of the room.

There was a sense of deja vu as Mai found herself running after him yet again, a little more resigned then irritated at this point until she realised that he was carrying her bag. Without being asked to.

Madoka watched the interaction between the two from her seat next to Luella for a moment, before looking over at her friend, slightly shocked.

Luella seemed to have the same sentiment as she watched the openness her son conducted himself with when it came to the young girl. “Was that really Noll?” She asked softly, a sense of disbelief obvious in her tone.

Nodding her head, Madoka shook her head as if shaking away her own disbelief. “I don't know why this is such a surprise. Noll always was kind to her.” She pointed out. “We even saw it the other night.”

The blonde hummed but didn't look quite so convinced. “I know, we all saw how they interacted but doing something nice like picking up her bag without being prompted...” She trailed off.

Madoka snorted at her comment. “It's not like he did it without a Noll-like flourish.” She pointed out.

At that, Luella couldn't help but laugh in agreement as she stood from her seat to get herself ready for their outing. “I guess you're right. We'll just have to wait and see how things go for them. I've never seen Noll like this so if nothing else, things are proving to be interesting.”

From near their respective women, Lin and Martin shared a look and silently promised themselves that they wouldn't get involved in anything as they exited the room.

It was going to be a long day. Or more like a long few years.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

The rest of the day flew by as they hit all of the promised locations, Mai smiling widely as she took picture after picture of her family, commemorating their first proper trip together.

There was a certain kind of warmth running through her that made her feel like she was floating in a dream, happiness being something that even after so long, she was still getting used to.

When Naru and Lin had left Japan, things had seemed a little hopeless for a while. Even though she still saw everyone regularly, there was something missing. For a while she'd had no real drive for anything. When she'd started the cafe up, it was like she finally had something she wanted to put her effort and time into, a passion to work towards. But even then, she hadn't been sure that it was what she wanted for the rest of her life. It was better than any other job she had and she made a reasonable amount being a fairly popular place these days. It had been the greatest present anyone had ever given her but there was still something missing.

When they'd all started taking cases once again, she knew that she was missing the _excitement_. She missed chasing ghosts and helping people. It was around then that Yasu mentioned he was switching his major and applying for Cambridge. He hadn't pushed her to apply as well but Mai knew the moment he'd said it that it was what she wanted as well.

So with his help she'd studied hard to get her grades up from decent to exceptional and worked hard on coming up with an interesting entrance paper, all while knowing that her chances were slim.

When the letter of acceptance had come in originally, Mai hadn't known what to do. She'd called Yasu and made him come over to double check she wasn't imagining things. When he'd confirmed it, she hadn't known how to feel. She was excited of course but a part of her threw images of the boy she'd fallen in love with a year before to her mind and she's worried a little over seeing him again.

The way they'd left had been sudden and without much closure so she wasn't sure how things were going to. And she'd _known_ they'd see them again. Her instincts had made that much clear.

Looking at her family in front of her now though, she couldn't be happier to have them all together again, even if Lin was as silent as always, dragged along by an enthusiastic Madoka and even if Naru spent more time glaring at their group then actually looking at the sights that he'd probably never been excited to see and is even less excited to see for the millionth time.

As she continued to muse over the past year, she shrieked a little in surprise when she felt someone push her lightly in the back making her stumble a little.

Whipping around to see who it was, she glared angrily at Naru's smirking face. “Naru! What was that for?” She demanded angrily, cheeks flushing with heat.

Oliver rolled his eyes at her predictable response, still mildly amused by her reaction to his light touch. “You've been staring off into space for the past fifteen minutes. We're leaving to go to dinner before they go to ride the London Eye.” He informed her with his best 'you're an idiot' look.

Huffing at his look, Mai looked away pouting a little, cheeks flushed for a completely different reason now.

Looking around for a moment, she realised that Naru was right. Everyone had already moved on from where they'd been admiring the Cathedral and started back towards the car.

Seeing how they all looked from here, Mai smiled a little, bringing her phone up and capturing the image of them all.

It was a cute picture; Martin had his arm around Luella's waist, Madoka and Lin were holding hands, Ayako had Bou-san's arm around her shoulders. Between them all Yasu had his arm's linked with Masako and John, pulling them along with a mischievous grin.

“Are you coming idiot?” Naru asked after giving her a moment, barely pausing in his long strides as he looked over his shoulder to see what she was doing.

Pressing one final button to set the image as her lock screen and background image, she put her phone into the pocket of her jeans and running after him to catch up, not even being angry at the fact that this kept happening, too happy with how this afternoon had gone.

It only took a moment to catch up to Naru before she slowed down to a walk next to him.

It was comfortably silent as they walked next to each other, slowly making their way back to the car.

Just like the drive back, it was a nice change from how loud it was all afternoon to just enjoy the distant laughter of her friends as she enjoyed the peace and quiet for a moment longer. Almost like they were in some sort of bubble and she didn't want to burst it quite yet.

Of course, all good things come to an end, as they finally reached the car, Yasu smirking at her, unconsciously matching the look on Madoka's face.

“Took you two long enough.” She teased.

Mai rolled her eyes, smiling. “It was worth it. I have the cutest picture of you all now.” She informed, sticking her tongue out. “And just for that, I'm not sending it to you.”

“I'll just get one of the other's to send it to me once you send it to them.”

The brunette raised a challenging eyebrow at the pink-haired woman, her wait shifting to the side as her arms crossed. “You're basing that on the assumption that I plan on sharing it with the other's.” She pointed out.

Madoka blinked a little at the physical change in Mai's position. Somehow, the way she was holding herself all of a sudden made her seem like she'd actually grown up.

It wasn't like the thought hadn't occurred to her until now. It had been more than a year since she'd last seemed them and she'd noticed the most obvious changes in Mai's physique. But it was only just hitting her just how much the young girl she'd known before had probably grown up.

This was a side of Mai she'd never seen before and there was something about it that got her blood running.

Martin seemed to agree, giving her a look from beside his wife that seemed contemplative.

For once, Yasu seemed to be on Mai's side as well as he moved from where he'd been standing with Masako and John to used Mai's shoulder as an arm rest.

“Mai's right of course. Making assumptions without any basis.” He tsk'ed teasingly at his pink-haired friend. “You really should know better.”

Ayako let out a loud groan looking at the two of them before throwing her hands up while everyone else was almost silent out of shock at the sudden change in dynamic, Madoka herself not quite sure what to come back with.

“Why do we even bother? You two managed a total of four days without pulling the 'dynamic duo' routine. _Four_. That's it.” The red-haired woman grumbled.

Bou-san laughed from next to her. “It's not so bad. It's a new record if nothing else.” He pointed out, placing a consoling hand on her arm as he rubbed gently in a rare show of real affection.

Mai huffed at them. “You guys are ridiculous.” She declared.

Snapping out of the moment, Martin chuckled at his young friend. “It would appear, Miss Mori, that you have been reminded of your purpose in the field of parapsychology.”

Madoka hummed in agreement, grin still on her face. “So it would seem.” She agreed.

From across from them, Yasu grinned. “ _Kami_ knows how many time we'll be reminded of those sort things once term starts up. Let us have this one.” He pointed out, winking.

Clapping her hands together to get their attention, Luella smiled at them all. “Now that you guys have finished, how about we head out? I for one, am famished.”

There was a round of agreement from everyone as they got into the car, chattering away once more as they started on the way to dinner, the atmosphere from before disappearing like it was never there.

It wasn't long before they were pulling up outside an Italian restaurant.

“This is our favourite place to eat whenever we go out, so I hope you guys don't mind Italian.” Madoka commented as they went inside, Martin walking up to the lady there and saying a few words to her.

Almost instantly, they were being led into the back corner of the restaurant and seated.

It was amusing to Oliver to watch as they all sat in the same order that they gravitated towards at the house.

“Someone will be with you shortly to take your drink order.” The waitress informed them politely as she handed a menu to each of them.

There was a chorus of thankyou's around the table as the lady walked away.

It was silent at the table for a moment as everyone looked through their menu's, first deciding on a drink before moving on to decide on a dish.

Mai bit her lip seeing some of the prices on things, reminding her why she never ate out. She already knew that she would only be getting water to drink – as was her preference whenever she ate a filling meal. But looking at the different dish options, she found herself struggling a little. There were so many options to choose from and she didn't know which was better. She didn't have a lot experience going out to eat which means that her knowledge of non-japanese food was limited so she was tempted to get one of the cheaper options and hope for the best.

From next to her, Naru noticed her internal struggle. He sighed a little at his parent's lack of forethought. Glancing down at his own menu, he's chosen what he was getting before they'd even entered the restaurant. They had his favourite spaghetti and meatballs dish here and it was rare for him to get anything else.

Thinking on Mai's own preferences, he moved over to point at Mai's menu.

“You'll like this one.”

The brunette jumped slightly at his movement, flushing at how close he was before tunring her eyes down to her menu to see what he was pointing at.

“Carbonara?” She asked, voice unsure as she sounded at the letters of the unfamiliar dish.

Naru couldn't help the twitch of his lips. “Yes. It's a creamy pasta with bacon.” He informed her.

Smiling at him, Mai nodded at his explanation, cheeks still warm as she thought about how well he knew her preferences, not for the first time in the past few days.

“Thanks Naru.”

He didn't respond, but even after he pulled his arm away, he didn't move his chair back to it's previous position.

He chose not to dwell on the reason for this.

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

*Jourei is the Japanese term for a peaceful exorcism (a cleansing if you prefer), more akin to convincing the spirit to pass on instead of forcing them to leave such as what takes place with Jorei which instead destroys the spirit entirely.

 


	12. April 10th - April 11th

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! This chapter is a little bit behind schedule (even more-so for those reading on AO3 since as I predicted might happen in the beginning, I was so tired that I forgot to post it over here so this is even later, so sorry about that). For some of you it might still be Sunday but here in Australia it's nearly five in the morning on Monday (which means I have been up for the last nineteen hours and I've got to be up in under five hours so the editing on this is going to be atrocious, sorry in advance). I got called into work and didn't even think about the fact that I had to post a chapter before I accepted so sorry about that. Then when I got home at ten at night I struggled so much to keep writing this out for some reason. Hopefully the story will pick up again soon. I do have an idea of the order I want things to go in for the next few days but it's just not flowing like I want it to, so if it ends up reading a little bit weird, that's the reason why (although things started to go smoothly again after the dinner so hopefully that section is less of a lost cause?). Never-the-less the chapter is here and I hope you enjoy it! Oh! And make sure to check the chapter titles from here on out because that's where I will have the current date written down so you guys can keep track of the time inside the story.
> 
> In other news, I have started posting another story called Nefelibata that'll update on Saturday's every two weeks if you feel like checking it out. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
> 
> Leave a review if you enjoy this chapter and just a reminder, if you guys have any ideas for moments between character's that you'd like to know more about or just cute things that you'd like to see happen, make sure to let me know! You will of course be credited for anything used.

 

 **** **Disclaimer:** I do not own Ghost Hunt

**Chapter Key:**

“English Speaking”

“ _Japanese Speaking”_

_'Thinking'_

**Chapter Twelve**

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

Everyone watched discreetly at Naru's actions, doing their best not to alert him of the audience he'd gained, lest he react in a way that was befitting of the devil moniker that those at BSPR had dubbed him. Not that they could really be blamed for that. They all knew how touchy Noll could get on the bad days.

Luella smiled gently before deciding to try and move their attention else where.

“So, Yasuhara. You guys are going to be studying at Cambridge this year?” She asked.

It was as the question left her mouth that she realised that she hadn't even asked them both about their plans for the next few years.

Mentally scolding herself for her oversight, she promised herself that she'd learn what she could about the two of them over the course of the night – especially since it was clear that they'd be seeing a lot more of the two of them.

Yasu beamed at the question, turning to give her his full attention.

“Right. I'm doing a double major in parapsychology and business. My parents agree that I should be able to follow my own desires when it comes to my future career, but my father requested that I do something a little more... _practical_ as a back-up.” He informed her, not the least bit unhappy.

It wasn't a degree he hated the thought of and in all honesty, he agreed with his father to a certain point.

Luella seemed to be in agreement, nodding her head easily. “I can understand that. It's always good to have multiple options. What about you Mai?” She inquired, seeing that the moment that her son had shared with the younger girl seemed to have ended.

Flushing a little under the older woman's gaze, Mai smiled. “I'm doing a double major in Parapsychology and Psychology.” She informed the blonde.

Raising her eyebrows, Luella didn't try to hide her impressed look.

“That's a lot of work. Between these boys and psychology you're definitely going to have your work cut out for you.” She mused, “but I suppose things could be worse. I majored in psychology myself so if you need any help you just let me know.”

Mai winced at the reminder of her workload. “Thanks, I'm sure I'll need all the help I can get.” She laughed.

For a moment Oliver was reminded of the previous night when Mai had admitted her fears about coming to cambridge and he frowned. He didn't have to worry too much about it though because Luella seemed just as aware.

“You'll know more than you think and you're a smart girl. You'll do fine. I'm just offering to help you with the things that you don't quite get straight off the bat. Don't stress too much over things that haven't happened yet.” The blonde woman advised, smiling kindly.

Yasu bumped Mai's shoulder and gave her a pointed look.

Ignoring her friend, Mai nodded at the older woman, accepting her advice.

“Would you look at that Mai. I don't think you could fail out if you tried. A table full of willing minds that have intimate knowledge on your majors.” Bou-san teased her, grinning at the thought of how far she'd be able to go.

Mai rolled her eyes at his words but Martin nodded along seriously.

“He's very right. Everyone at this table wants you to succeed in your courses. It'll be good for you to treat us like another resource at your discretion. We all have different knowledge and experience in our chosen fields and at the risk of being over-confident, there really isn't a better group of people to get information from.” He explained, looking both Mai and Yasu in the eye.

Sensing how serious he was being, both of them nodded silently, even if Mai's was a little more reluctant.

The thought of how Naru had already practically promised her unlimited help brought a small happy smile to her face as her eye's met the table to avoid seeing anyone.

That's right. Naru said she could do this and he was _never_ wrong.

Madoka grinned from her spot. “So, why psychology? I understand the parapsychology but psychology is a little out of the blue, isn't it?” She inquired, thinking back on what she could remember about Mai.

Mai's eyebrows furrowed a little bit as she thought about how to answer that.

“I guess, I thought it was interesting? I'm aiming for a field style of psychology not something based in research. I've always liked helping people so when I was choosing what I wanted to do and discussing my options with the school counsellor, she was much more in favour of psychology then parapsychology and suggested that practice in that field is one of the best ways to help people. So I thought about it and did a little research and thought it looked like something I''d enjoy. And I guess, I thought it would help me with ghost hunting too, giving me options and knowledge to help with getting spirits to move on.”

She shrugged a little trying to downplay how hard she'd considered her options and how often she wondered if she was choosing the right option. There were so many choices and she'd really only explored a couple when choosing. But she figured, if she'd found something that interested her now when nothing else had in the past, why shouldn't she just go with that?

The pink-haired grinned at Mai.

“Those are great reasons.” She assured the younger girl. “And you're right. There's a lot to be said for the study of behaviour and how it could help you in the parapsychology field.”

Lin looked at Mai, noting for the first time properly how much she'd grown and changed and he could really see in a position as a counsellor or proper psychology. She'd always had such an open and caring heart.

“So, where will the two of you be living? On campus?” Luella inquired.

Before they could respond, the waiter turned up, taking their orders before leaving.

Turning back to Mai, Luella raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

Remembering the question from a moment before, Mai thought back to the terms of her scholarship.

“I'm living on campus at the dorms, as per my scholarship. I'll be moving in there on the nineteenth of April since our classes begin on the twenty-second, just in time for the Easter Term. That's why Yasu and I aren't actually leaving here when the other's do next week.” She informed the older woman, eyebrows furrowing in concentration as something dawned on her. “Although I guess I'll have to call up and see if it's possible to move in earlier since I'm here a lot earlier than planned.”

As Mai trailed off, Luella looked scandalised.

“Whatever would you do that for? You can just stay with us until the move in date.” She insisted.

Immediately Mai shook her head. “No, no. It's fine. I'll sort something out, there's no need for you to go out of your way.” She argued.

Luella pouted. “Nonsense, I'm not going out of my way at all. You're already set up at our place, there's no need for you to go and shuffle things around when you're perfectly welcome.”

Looking between them, Yasu rolled his eyes at Mai's stubbornness.

“In that case, if you don't mind then we'll take you up on that offer.” He accepted before Mai could do anything about it.

Mai's head whipped around to look at her friend. “But-”

“No take-backs. You'll stay with us and that's that.” Luella added in a sing-song voice.

Oliver mentally rolled his eyes at the put out expression on Mai's face as she gave up the fight. It really was a lost battle before she'd even begun, he was surprised the brunette had bothered. Though this situation did have its advantages. It would allow for him to ask her a lot more questions about her abilities and to help her study like he'd promised.

With that thought in mind, he was completely at ease as their food finally arrived.

Mai looked at her dish in excitement. Picking up the fork, she swirled the creamy pasta on to it and tried her first bite. Her eyes immediately lit up as the flavours exploded on her tongue.

 _'Of course you like it. Naru's never wrong remember? Not even with something like this.'_ She thought to herself, giggling slightly.

Masako scoffed at the look on her friends face. “So dramatic.” She scolded half-heartedly, picking her own food up and ignoring the amused look that she got in return from John next to her and the glare she got from Mai.

After that comment however there was a lull in the conversation, small talk being passed back and forwards between the older of the group discussing their jobs, and some of their past experiences with the paranormal. Other than that, it was a quiet night and soon they were finished with dinner.

“So, the real question is. To get dessert or not to get dessert?” Madoka whisper consiprationally as she looked around at the other females at the table.

Luella rolled her eyes at her friend. “Obviously we need to get dessert.”

Thinking on the prices Mai had seen on said items, Mai bit her lip. She wanted one – she had a sweet tooth a mile wide. But those prices – while she was sure were warranted and based on the skill and the cost of ingredients – were more than she was willing to go, even on a night when she was treating herself.

Seeing her friends dilemma, Masako tried to think of a way to help her out without being obvious. Over the past year, she had gotten rather close with Mai and Mai had confided in her somewhere along the line that she always worried over money and how much things cost, even when she really didn't have to anymore.

As someone who grew up making money with parents who were also well off, Masako didn't really understand on the same level (or any level really), but she acknowledged that it was something that was probably ingrained in to Mai for so long that there was no getting around it. Even when it came to clothing Mai preferred to go thrift shopping* as opposed to buying something new.

Instead of helping directly, Masako decided it would probably be easier for Bou-san or Ayako to get away with helping her out. Tapping John on the shoulder she nodded towards Bou-san for John to get the man near him's attention.

Catching on quickly, John stretched a leg out under the table to tap on the older man's calf.

Head snapping up, the monk turned towards John to see what the other man wanted. When Masako nodded slightly in Mai's direction his eyebrows furrowed in concentration as he tried to figure out what the girl meant before it dawned on him.

Nodding in understanding, he glanced down at the dessert menu.

“What do you want for dessert Mai, Ayako? I for one thing we deserve a treat for a case well done so it's on me tonight.” He informed, voice brokering no argument as he looked over at the brunette, giving her a stern look.

Mai narrowed her eyes at him, about to argue but when his own eyes narrowed, she relented.

Looking back down at the dessert menu, she scanned over the options again before deciding.

“I'll get a slice of the classic cheesecake.” She decided after a moment. “But I can buy my own.”

Bou-san sighed dramatically, forcing his face to look as sad as possible.

“And here I was hoping to treat you. You didn't even let us celebrate you getting accepted into Cambridge. Is it really so bad for me to buy you a single dessert? I didn't even get you a graduation present either because you were so against it.”

A pang of guilt hit Mai and before she knew it she was agreeing to let him buy her dessert, a hand coming up so that she could put her face in her hands, suddenly feeling exhausted as he instantly brightened.

Yasu didn't help either as he leaned over, a smirk on his lips.

“He totally just played you, you know that right?” He whispered.

With a well-placed elbow, she shot a quick glare at her best friend. “Of course I know that. I'm not stupid.” She hissed back, annoyed at herself for caving so easily and at him for calling her on it.

Although her irritation was superficial at best because glancing over at the man who was something between an older brother and a father figure in her eyes, he truly looked happy to be able to do this much for her – and she'd never want to take that away from him.

With the dramatics out of the way, Madoka made note to ask Yasu what all that was later on and instead focused on choosing her own dessert.

And with that out of the way, the rest of their night continued to fly by with everyone by Naru ordering a dessert in the end and continuing to chat away about nothing and everything.

When it came time for them to pay, Bou-san was over with his card before Mai could even try to pay for her own meal leaving the girl to lament ever trusting that he would only buy her a dessert.

Patting her friend on the shoulder with fake consolation, Yasu sighed dramatically. “Oh how how hard it must be to have a man willing to pay for your food. When you find one willing to pay for _mine_ let me know.”

Mai rolled her eyes at her friends antics before pointing towards Bou-san.

“You can have that one if you want.” She shot back.

Ayako rolled her eyes. “Just let him have his way this time. It'll be a pain to deal with him if you don't so if it helps to think of it as a favour to me, then do that.”

Mai chose not to reply to that.

It was a good ten minutes later when all the payments were made and sorted and they were headed out of the restaurant to pile into the large van they'd been using all afternoon and head back out of town to the Davis mansion.

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

Mai groaned as she sat up in her bed, stretching out and looking to her side.

Despite the relatively late hour that they'd returned back to the Davis' mansion at last night, her internal clock had fully switched over to London time and had now woken her up just in time for the sun to start rising.

Yawning a little, Mai supposed that she shouldn't be surprised. While she loved sleeping in, over the past year she had rarely had the chance. In fact, she'd taken to jogging in the mornings for the sake of her own personal improvement and it really had made a world of difference – both in her general energy and health, and in her fundamental spirituality.

Swinging her legs out of the bed, the brunette shivered a little at the cold floor before making a dash for her suitcase.

Pulling out a pair of jogging pants and a light jumper, she changed quickly, pulling her hair back so that it wouldn't get in her way.

Before leaving the room, she grabbed her phone – just in case. Originally she'd forgotten it a lot, but Ayako and Bou-san had practically killed her one time when they couldn't get a hold of her so since then she'd been very careful to remember it.

Even though they'd been so angry at her, she hadn't been able to help the warmth that she felt when she'd remembered that there was someone there _to_ worry about her now. It was something that she was still getting used to years later, but she was getting better at it. She was trying. And they understood that.

Moving down the steps, she made her way towards the front door before slipping out. She knew that there was a garden on the Davis property but she hadn't been there yet and she wasn't sure if it was big enough for her to jog in so she opted to explore the surrounding areas instead, jogging along the main road and enjoying the peaceful morning.

Unlike in the past, these days she didn't usually listen to music while jogging, usually focusing more on being in tune with her surroundings. Sometimes if she paid enough attention to things, she felt like she could hear the trees talk to her, or understand what the birds would sing.

It was probably her imagination though.

Breathing steadily, Mai grinned when she saw a sign for a park around thirty minutes into her jog. Veering away from the main road, she smiled at the sight of the grassy area and the small playground. It was desolate, the hour still only around six-thirty in the morning on a thursday.

Following a dirt track, her smile widened as she realised that it lead to a small wooden pier on a river edge. It would be perfect for her qi-gong exercises.

Coming to a stop before the beautiful scenery, she quickly snapped a picture of herself in front of it to send to her friends before settling in to run through her movements.

And for the first time in days, she finally felt fully at ease.

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

It was nearing eight in the morning when Mai arrived back at the Davis' mansion, having lost track while she was running through her routine.

Stepping inside the place, she could immediately tell the difference. Everything felt even more heightened than usual, but at the same time much more peaceful and controlled.

 _'Skipping those few days really did a number on me.'_ She noted, filing it away for later reference. It was something to tell Yasu too since he liked to keep well-stocked notes on everything she experienced.

Feeling around, she found that everyone appeared to be in the dinning room. It wasn't that much of a surprise considering the time. Though it didn't feel like Ayako was there yet, another thing that didn't surprise her in the least.

Heading that way, she grinned as she pushed the door open and stepped into the room.

“Good morning, dear.” Luella grinned, noting the younger's clothing. “You plan on going for a jog?”

Mai laughed lightly, shaking her head. “No, no. I've actually just gotten back.”

From his usual spot, John smiled over at her. “Was it nice out? Where'd you end up going?” He asked curiously. Sometimes in Japan, Mai would go as far as to jog down to the church. Because service starts early, they would often catch up for a moment before she'd head off again. A couple times he'd gone with her and found that because of her frequent trips out, Mai actually knew a lot of peaceful little places he'd never have found without her. Whenever he needed to get away from things, he'd go to those from now on and he'd always feel better afterwards.

Grinning over at him, the brunette nodded, moving to take her own seat. “Yeah. I was jogging along the road and found a park area with a river front. It's a good spot.” She explained, pulling out her phone and bringing up the picture of the place that she'd found, passing it over to him to look at.

The priest took her phone gently, smiling at the peaceful look on his friends face before he looked over the river in the background and the beautiful scenery. He carefully passed it over to Bou-san when he started making grabby-hands towards the item.

Mai rolled her eyes, settling down in her seat after she grabbed a couple pieces of toast, adding some jam** to them and turning her attention back towards Luella.

“So, do you usually job in the mornings? I don't mean to be rude, but I didn't really take you for a morning person.” She admitted. Part of her was actually a little miffed that she'd been so far off, considering her background was in behaviour analysis. Then again, there was always exceptions.

The petite girl hummed in understanding, waiting until she swallowed her food before replying.

“I'm actually not a morning person at all. I love sleeping more than anything and if you'd told me a year ago that I'd be jogging on the regular and getting up with the sun then I probably would have laughed at you.” She admitted. “But once I got into the habit, I found that it wasn't that bad. It's made a huge difference in my work ethic and my overall health, plus the spiritual benefits have been unfounded so, I don't really mind.”

Luella nodded in agreement. “I can definitely understand that. I do actually go jogging fairly regularly as well, so if you ever want some company just let me know.” She offered. It'd be nice to have someone to chat to while she exercised in the morning.

Smiling brightly, Mai agreed readily. She only ever went jogging with John but those were often some of her best trips out.

She tilted her head as she remembered her qi-gong. “Ahh, but I have my qi-gong exercises in the middle of my jog so I'm not sure if you'd be happy to hang around for that...” She trailed off, uncertain.

The term was familiar to her, but Luella wasn't sure why as she wracked her brain.

Spotting her confusion, Yasu decided to elaborate. “The specific form of meditation that Mai does. You might have heard them mentioned by Lin in particular since it's a main technique employed by _onmyoji._ ” He explained.

It clicked in Luella's head and she grinned. “That makes sense. I don't mind. If it's mainly a meditation technique then maybe I'll try and follow along for fun.” She joked.

Mai shrugged. “It could only benefit you if you did. Kind of like Tai-Chi or yoga.” She pointed out. “But don't feel like you have to. Qi-gong should really be taught by a proper instructor and it's usually person specific. I do add some Tai-chi movements on occasion though that I can teach you.”

The blonde woman agreed readily, eager to learn and (hopefully) get to know the other girl better.

“Then it's settled. I'll let you know the next time I plan on going jogging and we can go together.”

With that out of the way, Mai finally took note of the lack of Naru and Martin. Feeling around the mansion, she frowned when she realised that they weren't nearby at all.

“Where are Naru and Professor. Davis?” She inquired curiously, starting on her second piece of toast.

Yasu grinned. “Ah that's right. You missed them by about twenty minutes. They stopped for a quick breakfast and then they headed off to BSPR. Before he left, the professor invited us to come by at any point today and take a look around.” He informed her, excitement showing in his eyes as he pushed his glasses up.

Mai felt a similar excitement settle in herself.

From across the table she heard similar sighs of disappointment from Bou-san and Luella.

Turning to look at the both of them, she gave them a confused look.

“We were hoping to get some more sightseeing in. Yasu said you'd be more incline to go to BSPR but I was holding out hope. But I guess we're going without you.” Bou-san lamented.

The brunette could only shrug unapologetically.

“Sorry. I have plenty of time to go and sightsee. I'm really curious about what BSPR is going to be like...” She trailed off.

Luella nodded in understanding, trying to sound less disappointed when she saw that it was genuinely distressing for the poor girl.

“It's alright dear, we'll just drop you both off on our way to some of the sights and you can let us know when you're ready to be picked up. Maybe try not to spend the entire day there though. It would be nice for you to see at least a few things today since you don't have too long before your school term is going to start up.”

Mai beamed at the older woman's words, her enthusiasm coming back full-force. “Sounds like a good plan. Oh, I want to see the zoo still! If we head in soon you guys should be able to get through some of the other sights and it'll give us enough time to go through BSPR, then we can meet for a late lunch and spend the afternoon there.” She suggested, her eyes going pleading.

Luella laughed, nodding in agreement.

“In that case all you have to do is get Masako and Ayako up and ready to go. Then we can head out.”

Mai froze in realisation as Yasu winced in sympathy at her friends' situation, patting her shoulder gently.

“It can't be too bad....” She tried to convince herself.

“Those are famous last words.”

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

*I hope this is the correct term to use. It's the only one I see other people use for second-hand shopping in other countries. Australia (Queensland in particular, I can't speak for the other states), uses the term “Op-Shop” instead of we just call the store by name since most people Op-Shop at St. Vincent De Pauls, aka _Vinnies_.

**Jam or jelly, whatever term you use in your country. Here in Australia, jelly is the American equivalent of Jell-o, and jam is American's call jelly.

 


	13. April 11th

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, back with another chapter – on time this time around (yay)! I thought I would add some tidbits on the other members of JSPR's thoughts on how things had been while Naru was gone and the things they'd learnt about our favourite brunette when they'd gotten closer, so I hope you enjoy them! I started this chapter super early on because when next weeks chapter is supposed to go up, I'm actually visiting home so I need to write both of them up before I leave. Hopefully I don't lose track of time and can get it (and the next chapter of Nefelibata for those of you who have started reading it) up on time for you all but if I don't, that's the reason why.
> 
> More importantly however, we are back on track, woohoo! Unlike the previous few chapters that have been hot and cold when it came to me being able to get a flow going, this one started to write itself towards the end like I’m used to, so it should read smoothly... I hope? It's also a bit longer than usual because I couldn't find a good place to stop and split the chapter, although going back over it before posting this, I changed the initial stopping point and somehow ended up writing even more so the stop might seem more natural now, but the writing might have changed... seriously I've been reading frostiron over in the avengers fandom for the past couple of days and my writing seemed to have taken on a more Shakespearean note, so if you see it and it's a little out of place, that's why. That said, I hope you guys also enjoy the tidbit of Naru's point of view at the end! I enjoyed writing it and for some reason it felt like one of the more 'Naru-like' moments I've written in this fandom as a whole – though you can feel free to disagree if you're point of view is different. I'd love to hear some other takes on Naru as a person and his own explanations for relationships between himself and people (keeping in mind the canon parts of most people being pumpkins, something I may reference later in this story but I haven't thus far).
> 
> Leave a review if you enjoy this chapter and just a reminder, if you guys have any ideas for moments between character's that you'd like to know more about or just cute things that you'd like to see happen, make sure to let me know! You will of course be credited for anything used.

 

 **** **Disclaimer:** I do not own Ghost Hunt

**Chapter Key:**

“English Speaking”

“ _Japanese Speaking”_

_'Thinking'_

**Chapter Thirteen**

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

Mai grinned as she watched the scenery pass by on their way to the BRSP office to drop herself and Yasu off for the next four or so hours, her body almost vibrating in excitement as each minute ticked by.

Finally Ayako got fed up, placing a gentle hit to the younger girls' head. “Stop that. We still have a little ways to go before we get there and it's not going to do for you to get all revved up only to find that the office is actually really boring.”

Sticking her tongue out in retaliation, the brunette crossed her arms and pouted.

“I can't help it, Ayako. This is a building filled with people who make a living by doing the same thing we love. It's my _dream.”_ She stressed, voice petulant.

The red-head sighed. Even though Mai's excitement was annoying, it wasn't necessarily bad. She just didn't want the girl to be disappointed when it wasn't everything that it'd been talked up to be. But she guessed she had been a little harsh – especially since up until a few years ago, Mai hadn't even been able to dream of going into a higher education. She'd planned on finishing out high school and then getting a full-time job – regardless of whether she liked said job or not – and making enough money to keep on living.

It had taken a while for them to get her to understand that she did have options. That she could actually find something that she'd enjoy doing and follow a career path.

That had been the one time that she'd been thankful for the friendship that Yasuhara and the young girl had formed. Despite how much the other man had corrupted Mai (read: helped her to cause endless trouble), he had also been the one to finally get it through her head that they weren't just giving her empty platitudes. The boy had taken the time to look into options for schools that supported a form of parapsychology study and had looked up the various scholarships that were possible to give Mai the best chance as possible. He'd even sat down with her, helped her get her grades up to be eligible for them, and helped her to fill them out.

By the end of the process they had been able to _see_ the difference in Mai. Her confidence had sky-rocketed and she no longer talked like she had chance at a future.

Watching as Mai's pout was gone at the sight of the BSPR and she was jumping slightly in her seat, Ayako couldn't help but feel more fondness than any form of irritation.

Yes, Mai choosing here was definitely the best decision. She'd found something to work towards – a goal job so to speak – and thinking on last nights events with Naru, maybe, she'd even find something more.

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

Mai smiled widely as Luella led her down the corridors of the BSPR building expertly.

They'd stopped briefly at reception to sign their names on a visitor's sheet before the blonde woman had swept them off down the halls.

“I'll take you to Martin's office and he can give you the tour himself to start off with. I don't want them leaving you to your own devices around here in case some unsavoury character comes along and decides to take advantage of you.” She informed them.

Not that the likelihood was high, they usually kept good track of people who had plans to use the paranormal abilities that BSPR supported in a less scientific way, but she didn't want to take any chances with her two new favourite people. They were so young after all.

Although thinking on it now, it wasn't like the two of them were going to admit to anything like that. Yasuhara at least seeemed to understand the possible danger because before they'd even entered the building he'd turned to Mai and instructed her, _“we are only some visiting students from Cambridge's parapsychology class. If you aren't talking to someone we know, keep everything else to yourself.”_

Maybe neither of them really needed to worry because she'd raised an eyebrow at him and crossed her arms, the stance looking somewhat familiar, though she couldn't place it, and gave them the most confused look that she'd ever seen, voice so sweet.

“But Yasu, we _are_ just visiting students from Cambridge's parapsychology class.”

Even now, as they walked down the hall, Luella wasn't sure whether Mai was just playing dumb or genuinely didn't understand the possible dangers. Ordinarily, she'd been told, Mai can't lie to save her life.

Masako had added, _“literally. All she had to do was lie to the ghost and we could have all gotten out of it without a scratch and she couldn't even manage that.”_

But she'd been so _convincing_ that the older woman had no idea what to believe.

She trusted in Yasuhara to keep her out of too much danger – not to mention between Lin, Madoka, Martin and _Oliver_ , she doubted anyone would try anything.

Reaching her husband's door, she knocked lightly but didn't wait until he responded before pushing it open and peeking in.

Seeing no-one but Martin inside, she opened the door wider and waltzed on in to give him a kiss on the cheek.

“Hello darling. I brought Mai and Yasu along for a tour of the place.” She explained, motioning towards the two who waved.

Martin chuckled. “Of course. I suppose you've given me the perfect excuse to avoid this paperwork even further – so I thank you for that.” He informed them, pushing the offending pages away from himself as he moved to stand from his desk. “Will we have you for the entirety of the day, or just for a little while?”

Yasu sighed dramatically. “I had planned on staying the day but everyone else _insisted_ that we needed to go sightseeing with them for a least a little while. You have us until lunch-time.”

Perking up, Luella smiled sweetly at her husband. “I don't suppose you'd be inclined to avoid your paperwork even further by joining us for lunch?” She offered.

He pretended to think about it before pulling his wife closer using her waist. “How could I turn down an offer like that from such a sweet woman?” He teased, pressing a kiss to her cheek.

Laughing, the blonde hit him lightly. “You sweet-talker. I have a group of impatient tourists in the car waiting so I had best be on my way. Take good care of them and don't work them too hard. They're not your employees.” She reminded, moving away from him and waving her hand as she left them all.

Turning back to the teenagers in front of him, Martin shook his head ruefully. “I guess we should get started then. Is there anything in particular you'd like to see, or do you just want to me to give you the general tour?” He asked, moving to leave the office, shutting the door gently behind himself as they started walking down the halls.

“The only thing I want to be sure to do is interrupt Naru's day.” Yasu informed, a mischievous look on his features. “Or more specifically, I need to throw Mai _somewhere_ while I talk shop with Madoka and what better place than with the big boss himself?”

The older man sighed. “I suppose that can be arranged. Try not to traumatise my employees too much. An angry Oliver has them all on edge and they become rather useless.”

Mai rolled her eyes. “ _Or_ we could avoid Naru and visit everyone else. I for one, am most excited to talk to anyone who has experience in this field and see how our experiences differ.” She informed them.

While Mai was distracted, Yasu offered a wink to his soon-to-be professor.

“Don't be ridiculous Mai, we _have_ to visit Naru. It'll make his day!”

Despite the way Mai scoffed at the prospect, Martin couldn't help but think that the boy might not be too far off. In just the short time he'd seen Oliver interact with the younger girl, he had seen a major difference in how he'd interact with her in comparison to anyone else. With any luck, she'd put him in a great mood for the rest of the day. A happy Oliver meant a much better work ethic from his employees because he was much easier to please (read: he wasn't nearly as rude when he informed them they were morons).

Of course, it was possible that things could go in the opposite direction and it would result in Oliver being in a terrible mood for the rest of the day – just as he'd suggested to Yasuhara.

But he was willing to gamble.

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

Mai sighed as she found herself standing in front of Naru's office door, thinking back to how she'd ended up there.

Honestly she shouldn't have trusted Yasu when he'd stopped mentioning going to see Naru so quickly. As soon as they'd gone through the main areas, Professor Davis showing them the testing rooms that they used and explaining a couple of the tests that they used for the various forms of ESP or PK, he'd taken them to see Madoka.

The second Madoka had spotted Mai, she'd handed her a collection of papers.

“Please Mai. Oliver's been in a bit of a mood since this morning and I don't want to deal with him being a jerk.” She'd begged.

And because Mai was a sucker for punishment, she'd agreed without hesitation, only to hesitate now when she'd reached his door.

 _'Kami, I'm such an idiot.'_ She bemoaned. _'But I’m even stupider for standing around here like this. It's just Naru. I used to do this sort of thing for him all the time – and that was regardless of his mood swings then.'_

After reminding herself of this fact, she steeled herself and knocked lightly on the door.

It was silent before she heard Naru's voice.

“Enter.”

Mai winced. Madoka hadn't been kidding – he really was in a bad mood. Sighing, she turned the handle and poked her head into the room, raising an eyebrow at the sight of his annoyed expression.

“Hello to you too. What's with that face?”

Oliver fought the urge to roll his eyes at the response. Typical Mai.

“Hurry up and get inside idiot. What's in your hand?” He asked.

Thre brunette sighed at his attitude but did as told (not asked, never asked with Naru), shutting the door behind herself as she made her way across the room, handing him the papers in lieu of answering his question.

Looking down at them, Noll frowned when he realised that they were reports that Madoka was supposed to get to him on a case from a week or so ago. “Why do you have these?”

Mai summoned her most deadpan look as she fell into one of the seats in front of his desk without being offered, ignoring the look she got in response for the action.

“Why do you think?” She scoffed, “Apparently you've been such a jerk all day to the point that even Madoka didn't want to deal with you.”

This news didn't really answer many of Oliver's questions, although it did make him even more annoyed at the pink-haired woman than he already was. “And her solution was to send you to give me them instead?” He demanded.

Rolling her eyes, Mai crossed her arms. “You _do_ realise that this was literally my job at SPR in Japan right? And that you were _almost always_ in a mood back then?”

She didn't add that his mood was usually caused by her inability to be on on-time and the lack of tea that he'd have if she was behind schedule.

Naru sighed at the reminder and conceded to the point before noting the fact that the brunette didn't seem too inclined to move away from the spot that she'd set herself up in.

Raising an eyebrow, he tried not to look confused. If she'd completed the task she'd set out to do, then why was she still here?

“Are you going to leave me alone any time soon?” He asked when it became clear that she wasn't really paying him to much attention, instead observing his sparsely decorated office.

Humming instead of giving a proper response, Mai pushed up from the seat and wandered over to the large bookshelf, glancing over the titles of the various covers.

“I'll take that as a no.” He sighed, before turning back to the report when Mai only hummed in response to his question again.

Even more caught up in her task now as she continued to note some of the titles she'd been extremely keen to read in the beginning, but had been unable to find _anywhere_.

Taking note of them, she made a mental list of all the ones he had that she wanted to read before realising something.

“Hey Naru, do you know what books I should make sure to read before classes start up at Cambridge? I know that we don't have anything in specific that we're supposed to learn ahead of time but I'd rather get some reading out of the way before then to make things a little easier during the semesters.” Mai explained, glancing over her shoulder to look at the man in question.

Noll was silent for a moment as he finished reading the report before setting it aside and getting up from the desk. Walking over to the shelf, he scanned over the titles similarly to how Mai had before – despite knowing extremely well what was there – and pulling out a couple.

“These ones will help you the most. You can take any that you think might be interesting though. There's not really a set list of things outside of a basic focal point during the lectures, so your assessment pieces are all going to be up to your own discretion.” He explained, as he made a small pile in front of the titles he already knew wouldn't be of any use just yet.

Mai tilted her head in confusion. “What do you mean?”

Sighing, Naru pulled out one of the books. “I mean that, each term will focus on a basic topic but which things under that 'umbrella' you choose to speak or write about will be entirely up to you. For example, your first semester will focus on ghost hunting one-oh-one. That means that you can choose from just about anything basic to write on – whether that's some of the basic equipment and how its useful, or whether its on the types of ways to go about investigating. You'll learn all of it throughout the semester, but how well you specialise in each topic is completely up to you.”

Mai nodded in understanding this time, thinking about it as she looked over the titles that Naru was recommending.

 _'An Introduction to Parapsychology by Harvey J. Irwin_ and _Parapsychology: The controversial Science by Richard S. Broughton*'_ She noted. They were both books she'd heard of but never managed to get a copy of in Japan.

Naru watched her carefully, noting her subtle excitement and the way she kept glancing back to couple of the books on the shelf in particular.

Rolling his eyes, he motioned towards them all. “You can take any of the other ones that you feel like reading. Like I said, those will help you the most but any of them are a good source of information. There's a library at home as well with much more to work from that I'll show you if you're that keen.” He offered.

Honestly, even though he kept the ones that he got the most use out of in his office, the ones that he thought Mai might enjoy were all inside the office he had at home or in the library he'd just mentioned, which was a shame but he'd be sure to show them to her later, trying to convince himself that the extra effort he was putting in was because he wanted to encourage the level of commitment that Mai was putting in so far – even though the excited way she had pulled out one of the books she'd been eyeing made him soft in an unexplainable way.

 _'Body Mind Spirit: Exploring the Parapsychology of Spirituality by Charles T. Tart.'_ He noted with a small smirk. She was so predictable.

“Thanks Naru. Some of these are impossible to find in Japan.” Mai explained, holding the three books close of her chest. There were a couple more she wanted to grab, but she'd work through these first.

Oliver smirked slightly. “Maybe when you finish those you'll be a little smarter.” He teased.

“You had to ruin it by being a jerk, did you?” She demanded, huffing despite her own fond look. It was Naru being Naru after all. “And here I was going to ask if I could drag you away from your work long enough for you to show me where I could make you some tea as a thank you. But clearly, you don't need anything.”

Narrowing his eyes, Noll tried to figure out if she was being serious or not before deciding that it didn't matter. Even though the day had started terribly, things were starting to look up thanks to a certain brunette, and said brunette's tea would be the topper that made it possible for him to get through it.

As if thinking the same thing, Mai placed the books on his desk to come back for later and grinned. “Come on. I suppose that even if you did ruin the moment, you're lending me your books. The least I can do is stop you from scaring everyone around you for the entire afternoon. Maybe we can find a thermos bottle or something so you can have some for the rest of the afternoon.” She teased, a knowing twinkle in her eyes.

Oliver ignored the twitch of his lips as he exited his office, waiting impatiently for Mai. “You're being ridiculous.” He informed her primly.

Mai gave him a false look of confusion. “You mean you _don't_ want tea for the afternoon? Because I came prepared with my personal blend of earl grey but if you're sure...” She trailed off, pretending to be uncertain.

“Mai.”

Her name came out like a warning and she couldn't help but grin at the response.

Oblivious to the looks that were being thrown their way, Mai set about figuring out where things were the second they arrived in the communal kitchen, ignoring the amusement she could feel from Naru's aura as he positioned himself to lean against the counter to watch the younger girl.

“Bottom drawer to your left.” He mentioned.

Mai glanced over in confusion. She'd already found the mugs and the electric kettle was already set up. The sugar was on the bench and she'd also grabbed a clean spoon already.

Deciding to roll with it, the brunette reached down to pull it open only to find a collection of large travel Thermoses** made for sharing hot drinks on long road trips.

Rolling her eyes, she supposed she shouldn't be surprised. BSPR would probably take long road trips a lot so it's not a surprise that they would carry something like this.

Grabbing out the largest one, she set up setting it up for a larger batch of tea, guessing the amount to be the same as she would make for a tea pot.

Satisfied that he was going to have Mai's tea for the afternoon, Oliver finally took note of the wide eyed stare he was receiving from the couple of people who were standing in the communal area and the equally confused looks he was getting from people who walked past.

Narrowing his eyes at them, he was satisfied when they turned their attention back to other things.

It wasn't took much later when Mai had a mug of her own tea in hand while Naru carried his own full mug and an equally full thermos back to his office to sit back down.

Even though Mai figured she should probably head back towards Madoka – she'd been gone much longer than planned after all – she wasn't really in any rush.

Thinking back on the reason why she'd come here in the first place, Mai frowned when she recalled Naru's previous bad mood.

Settling down in the seat that she'd claimed earlier, she took a sip of her tea and waited until after Naru started on his own before trying to breach the subject.

“So...” She started, a little unsure of how to go about this. It wasn't that she hadn't spoken to Naru about emotions before, it was more that they were always in more dramatic situations (such as in the middle of a one-sided heated argument, or stuck in a literal hole in the ground) and didn't require this sort of build up.

Although an image of a couple nights ago when he'd cheered her up after she revealed her own feelings on whether or not she was ready for Cambridge came to mind that proved otherwise.

 _'But all of those occasions were about me.'_ She noted with a sigh, _'It's always been nearly impossible to get him to speak about_ himself _.'_

It was something that had always irritated her about him. She wanted to be able to help _him_ for once.

Noting her uncharacteristic hesitation, Noll debated over whether to push her to move faster or to wait for her to gather herself.

It wasn't much of a contest in his mind in the end, considering his own limited patience, even when it came to Mai – and the fact that he had any extra patience for the young brunette at all was also a fact he locked firmly away in the back of his mind.

“If you have something to say, then say it.” He sighed, giving her a look that implied he didn't have all day, despite knowing that his urgent work was all completed and for all intents and purposes, he did actually have all day.

Mai felt a flare of anger at his words, narrowing her eyes at him – briefly wondering why she cared about him in the first place.

“I just wanted to know what put you in such a bad mood this morning.” She admitted finally, voice soft in spite of the frustration he could hear.

Her hesitation made a lot more sense all of a sudden and he felt a pang of sadness at the thought that she was wasting her time worrying over something like that.

“It doesn't matter.” He responded finally.

Mai sighed, unsurprised but a little forlorn at how quickly he'd shot down her attempts to help him out. “I get it. You don't want to tell me. Sorry I asked.” She muttered finally.

Once more, Naru felt a stab of emotion as the sight of how genuinely sad Mai looked at being denied. It shouldn't be such a surprise considering her tendency to worry about other's and her natural inclination to help them whenever she could, and yet it was still hard for him to comprehend even now, years later.

He could almost hear Gene's favourite insult now.

_'He was right. Sometimes I can be such an idiot scientist.'_

Suddenly feeling a little dehydrated, he took a sip of his tea, noting the relaxation that it brought him once more.

“It's not I don't want to tell you, it's just that-” He stopped awkwardly unsure of how to broach the subject. Honestly, even now he wasn't entirely sure what _had_ caused his irritation this morning – although a traitorous part of him implied it was because he hadn't seen Mai that morning – an utterly ridiculous notion, especially if he reminded himself that Mai had _never_ been a constant in his life so to have himself consider her as one after only a few days was inconceivable.

Letting out an annoyed breath, he tried again, conscious of Mai's attention (although she was completely silent, giving him the time he needed to figure out what he was trying to say) as she waited patiently for him to figure his emotions out.

“It's just that there really is nothing to tell.” He admitted finally. “It's just one of those days.”

Mai let out a breath that she didn't know she was holding and trained her eyes on Naru's aura, as opposed to his mostly blank features.

It was jumping around, showing off the uncertainty that made complete sense when she thought about how emotionally inept he was.

“ _Those_ days huh?” She muttered rhetorically. She didn't need him to explain further than that, having been through the same thing over the years, especially just after her mother's death.

Oliver could tell just by the look on her face that she knew what he was talking about and for some reason it made things seem just that little bit better.

“Don't worry. I'm in a much better mood now.” He promised, voice quiet.

Mai's lips twitched. “I know.” She agreed. “But I'll worry anyway.”

He sighed at her admission, ignoring how it made him feel.

“Subject change. I went out for a jog this morning and found a park with a nice little dock – or would you call it a pier?” The brunette informed him, not even bothering to try and finesse her way through the change as she titled her head, genuinely confused by which English term she should use.

She'd referred to it as a pier earlier but she actually wasn't sure what to call it or the difference between the two***.

“Most likely a dock.” Naru agreed after a moment. “But it doesn't matter. Anyone will understand what you mean if you use either.”

Mai hummed in understanding. “I suppose so. It was nice and peaceful.” She admitted, thinking back to how quiet it had been.

Oliver's eyebrows furrowed. “When did you go for a jog in the first place? The nearest park is a good five to ten minute drive away.” He asked, thinking back to the areas surrounding his house. “And why didn't you just use the garden?”

“I left when the sun was coming up, so around six this morning? I didn't know where the garden was and I figured it wouldn't hurt to go out and explore.” She explained, “I'm glad I did too. When I got back I told Luella about it and she mentioned that she'd never been and we're going to set up a time to jog together while I'm still staying at your place.”

Naru nodded in understanding. He was glad that his mother and Mai were getting along so well – not that he'd doubted that they would. There wasn't really a person who _could_ hate Mai (especially one as kind as Luella was). Even Lin and himself had been unable to stay completely distant from her, which had been quite a shock. Especially if he considered how much Lin had hated the Japanese even back then and how coldly he'd treated the younger girl initially – something he knew still bothered the older man though he wouldn't admit it.

 _'Well,'_ He had to admit to himself, _'It's not completely impossible for someone to hate her. Or for her to dislike someone back_ \- never hate, Mai wasn't capable to hate, no matter how much she argued that she was or claimed that the emotion she was feeling was hate (an image of the time Mai had screamed that she hated him almost stole his breath away with its sudden appearance) _'_ He'd just yet to meet someone with that capability. Even those who disliked Mai initially find themselves eventually giving in to her kind nature and fiery personality. Himself included.

It was an odd situation to find himself in. On one hand, the kindness and easy -he wouldn't think friendship because something about it didn't suit their relationship, and the thought of it made another emotion rise within him that he _refused_ to acknowledge- camaraderie? No.

It was in that moment that Oliver realised that he didn't know how to term the relation that he'd built with Mai.

In fact, it almost felt more like a bond.

Yes, that was a much better way to term how he felt – though he was sure that Gene would have been able to offer more guidance on the subject if he were to ask (however he was loathe to involve his brother for various _obvious_ reasons) – _bonded_.

For reasons unknown, he had been drawn to her from the beginning and even now, when he'd spent so long away from her (time he'd very much spent worrying over her on occasion and wishing he'd had the foresight to take something of hers in order to be able to check on her which - _ridiculous_ ), the same draw was there, calling to him.

And yet, despite how well the word seemed to fit, it still wasn't quite right.

Thinking on it, he narrowed his eyes slightly, oblivious to the slightly amused and concerned looked he received from Mai when he noticed his own absence of mental presence.

A bond; a force or feeling that unites people; a shared emotion or interest. No, it still wasn't there.

Synonyms; friendship (no), affiliation (definitely not), connection (closer), link (closer still), attachment.

He paused at the thought of the word. Attachment. While it didn't quite explain everything, the word felt right. He was _attached_ to Mai, though he didn't know how to term their relationship properly, he could now claim his own understanding towards their interaction and his own interest in her well-being.

He was attached, and for once, the revelation didn't seem quite so scary.

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

*I mentioned it earlier on in the notes, but I figure it doesn't hurt to mention it again. These are real books by real authors, I don't own them in any way, shape, or form. This will be the case for any of the parapsychology books in this story (although I will probably still make a note of them anyway just to be on the save side).

**I don't have any idea if this is the correct plural for a travel thermos? Like, that’s the term we use here in Australia but I keep getting red lines under the words and I tried googling it to try and find a different term but nothing seemed right? So we're going with this for now, but if anyone knows different, please let me know, I'm low-key stressed about it.

***Honestly, I have no idea either. Like, I tried to google it and got a bunch of information that made zero sense at all to me. So just roll with it and if you have any information on what the difference is between a pier and a dock, or if there's another term I should be using since it's by a freshwater river, please let me know.

 


	14. April 11th - Pt. 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go, another chapter that's (hopefully) on time. I'm currently back home for a long weekend so this was actually ready a week in advance (are you guys proud?). This chapter actually took a very different turn than I planned (which I suppose isn't saying much because I plan as I go along and never make them concrete because it tends to limit me too much and makes me unable to get a flow going, as I've found in the past but I digress) and somehow it ended up centred around Luella and her psyche for a lot of it. Like how even did this happen? Regardless, I'm actually really happy with how things went and it's made for some good character development for her, considering there's going to be a lot of this story where she's not very present (namely cases which will make up a lot of the future word count and will render her obsolete for a good 15-20k words at a time) and with her original character being severely underdeveloped (obviously, she was a necessary character, but a side character none the less) there's a lot of growing that needs to occur. Eventually I plan on doing the same for Martin as well because the originals are kind of 2D and nothing more than a basic outline. But the creative freedom that it allows is good, and character development is a favourite of mine, so hopefully you guys enjoy it as much as I do!
> 
> Fun fact; I realised that we've already hit over 60k words (although the chapter notes at the beginning make up some of that so you're probably looking at only around 50k words of fiction because I ramble a lot (case and point this entire paragraph) but still), something I'm super proud of, and yet we haven't even made it to the actual going to Cambridge part, let alone to the part when we solve any of the plot lines that I've put in place. In the interest of celebrating however, you guys should leave me comments about which plot points you want to see come to fruition, or, which ones you think are actually plot points for my later use (because yes, I do actually plan ahead as I am writing these out, and yes, I do have an actual plot line to this story outside of just following Mai and Yasu enjoying Cambridge life). I think it'll be interesting to see how much you guys remember after reading things through week by week (if you're keeping up with the weekly updates), and if there's anything you guys think could be a plot point even if I didn't originally intend it to be. Who knows, maybe I'll even turn it into one! (It'll also be a good indicator of how many of you actually read the babble I write at the beginning of these which – if you don't no hard feelings. Sometimes you just want to get to what you actually came for – the fanfic). That said, I hope you're all in for the long haul because things haven't even come close to getting started and judging by my current pace this work is going to turn into a monster of a story clocking in at between 200k and 400k by the time I finish it up.
> 
> Ignoring that though... leave a review if you enjoy this chapter and just a reminder, if you guys have any ideas for moments between character's that you'd like to know more about or just cute things that you'd like to see happen, make sure to let me know! You will of course be credited for anything used.

 

 

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Ghost Hunt

**Chapter Key:**

“English Speaking”

“ _Japanese Speaking”_

_'Thinking'_

**Chapter Fourteen**

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

Glancing at the time, he frowned when he realised that he'd lost an entire hour because he'd been caught up with Mai.

“Do you plan to spend the rest of the day at BSPR?” He inquired.

The brunette shook her head in response. “No, Luella should be here soon to grab Yasu and I. We're all going out for lunch and then we're going to the zoo for the afternoon.”

“In that case we should probably go and find her since it's just gone twelve thirty and no-ones come to grab you yet.” He decided, draining what was left of his tea so that it wouldn't go cold as he got up from his desk.

“You don't need to. I've already pulled you away from your work for long enough, I can just find my way on my own.” Mai argued weakly, picking up the books that she'd taken from the shelves and holding them to her chest as she got up as well.

Oliver rolled his eyes. “You'll just get yourself lost.” He scoffed, not stopping as he continued on out of his office for the second time that day.

Mai huffed at that, but didn't deny it. With so many people around, her usual method not getting lost when finding people (aka aura sensing) got a little muddled up and it was a bit harder to find them. Not impossible, but definitely harder. Not to mention that despite the ridiculous way they'd tried to go about informing Mai of the dangers of being in a facility where people would want to take advantage of her (which – did _anyone_ get the notice about her ability to detect malicious intent from _humans_ and _spirits_?), they weren't entirely incorrect to worry at least a little. So she'd done her best to keep her powers on lock-down while here for the time being. It was in her best interests anyway considering her intent to keep her field capabilities secret from her future classmates, so anyone in the SPR office knowing about them was a risk she didn't want to take.

Satisfied with Mai's lack of retort, Naru continued on his way towards where he guessed his mentor and Yasuhara would have ended up. Mai had originally come from Madoka's office which meant that Yasuhara had probably been there for a while before being dragged away finally to look at something else and get back to work. Even if his mentor enjoyed messing about, she was usually pretty good at getting her work done regardless.

That meant they were likely looking through the possible cases, as was the pink-haired woman's usual job whenever she wasn't on case. It was a job that suited Yasu as well, if he considered the similar fashion in which they operated usually.

Mai trailed after him mostly silent, trusting him to know where to go and continuing to space at about random things she noticed, feeling a little claustrophobic(?) almost, with how tightly she'd locked her abilities up for the day.

Opening the door to the communications room where they fielded the requests, Naru was satisfied when he spotted Yasu sitting among a large stack of papers, reading over something next to Madoka.

Looking up to see who was coming in the room, she grinned at the sight of Mai and a much happier looking Oliver. Don't ask what the difference between a happy looking Oliver and an annoyed looking Oliver was, even she couldn't quite describe the extremely subtle changes in his demeanour.

“Would you look at that? I told you that they'd be able to find us.” Madoka insisted.

Yasu smiled. “I never doubted you.” He reminded. “Although if they're here then that means its probably about time that we left for lunch.”

Glancing down at her watch in shock, Madoka nodded in agreement. “You're definitely right.”

Pulling out her phone, she grinned sheepishly at the sight of a missed call from Luella and an unread text.

Opening it, she laughed at the sight of her friend scolding them for losing track of time and telling them that if she didn't see them in the cafe down the street by quarter to one, she was going to be even more unimpressed.

“It would seem that your mother is going to be a little mad at me.” She admitted, looking over at Naru. “We have like eight minutes to get down to the cafe down the street or we're really going to be in trouble.”

Oliver raised an eyebrow. “You mean _you're_ going to be in trouble. I'm not going anywhere else today. I've lost enough time. Now if you'll excuse me.” He informed her before turning around to leave, ignoring the glare his mentor shot at his back as he stalked out of the room and back in the direction that he'd come from originally.

“Honestly that kid.” Madoka sighed. “At least he's in a better mood than earlier today. I don't know what you did Mai, but you're a miracle worker.”

Mai shrugged. “I didn't really _do_ anything. He should be in a relatively good mood for the rest of the day though.” She divulged.

“Oh?”

The brunette nodded, a smirk pulling at her lips. “Of course. I made him tea. He's got enough to last him the rest of the day, even with how quickly he manages to go through it. And if he starts to get difficult to handle again just tell him that if he manages to be civil for the rest of the day then I'll make him some more later tonight.”

Madoka and Yasu both laughed at her explanation.

“Somehow, I'm not even surprised.” Yasu acknowledged, smirking. “But isn't that great Madoka? You have something you can actually use to bribe Naru now.”

Giggling, the pink-haired woman shook her head ruefully. “That only works until after you guys leave the Davis' mansion. Then what will I do?” She bemoaned jokingly as she started moving towards the door to leave. “Come on, we'd better get a move along before Luella gets mad.”

Yasu followed after her without complaint, grin still on his face.

“So, Mai. How was it with Naru? You obviously cheered him up, but you were gone for quite a while. If it was just the tea that cheered him up you could have had that done in no time at all.”

The brunette turned to face her friend briefly, rolling her eyes as the mischievous look on his face.

Madoka grinned. “Oh yes. Please tell us more. If you get us some good information we might be able to bribe Luella into not being annoyed.” She added.

Part of Mai wanted to face-palm at her friends antics and insistence, but she settled for giving them both her best disapproving look, patented of course by the one and only Naru.

“Oh come on.” Yasu whined. “Give us something. Even if it's not proper gossip, at least tell us _something_.”

Biting her lip, Mai thought back on her interactions with Naru, trying not to smile as she recalled how helpful he'd been.

“We just talked about some school stuff. He leant me a few of his books to read.” She admitted, lifting the books in her arms as if proving her point.

Madoka pouted. “That's so _boring,_ Mai!”

“What did you expect? Honestly, you two are ridiculous.” Said girl huffed, refusing to speak further on the topic even as Madoka tried her best to get her to reveal anything else.

“Do you think that they're really just that boring?” The pink-haired woman mock-whispered to Yasu when she failed yet again.

Yasu considered it for a moment. “I guess it's not _impossible._ ” He admitted sceptically, thinking back on how the two of them often interacted. “But I doubt it. Mai's always been pretty tight lipped about things that happen with other people though. She doesn't like to give out information about other's, even when they haven't requested her silence on them. Except when she's angry. Maybe if we get her angry enough she'll let something slip?”

Spotting the cafe that Madoka had mentioned, Mai sped up, eager to be away from the two of them and their prodding.

Stepping inside, she smiled sheepishly when she spotted an impatient looking Luella sitting in a large booth and started making her way over, Yasu and Madoka still more than a couple steps behind her whispering to each other still.

“Sorry we're so late. I got a little caught up with Naru.” Mai admitted easily, smiling at the older woman.

Martin perked up at this, looking over to give her a smile. “I did wonder how long you ended up being gone. Is he in a better mood now? Madoka seemed concerned earlier.”

His concern over whether he'd be gambling on her putting him in a great mood instead of a bad one had been undermined by the fact that when they'd gone to see Madoka she'd informed him that Noll was _already_ in a bad mood, making him think that it wouldn't have been much of a gamble to send Mai to him, noting that there wasn't much she could do to put him in a _worse_ mood. Not to mention that before he could even suggest a way to get Mai in to see him, Madoka had everything well in hand following a similar thought pattern – and if nothing else he trusted the woman's judgement on things like this.

By the pleased look on her face, Mai had been a complete success. He'd have to remember that for later.

His wife frowned next to him. “Noll's never in a good mood.” She pointed out, despite knowing it wasn't quite true. Seeing him interact with his old team, especially Mai, she couldn't help but think that he hasn't been in a good mood in the last year, not because of the loss of his brother's death, but because he'd left so much behind in Japan, and for their sake no less. So that he would be close enough that she wouldn't have to worry so much about losing another son.

It suddenly dawned on her that without meaning to, she might have trapped her own son in a situation where he found himself unable – or rather unwilling – to leave and follow his own desires, prioritising her over himself.

Swallowing thickly, she tried to banish the thoughts and the bad taste that she could suddenly taste on her tongue. She'd done the one thing that she'd never wanted to do to her son – tied him down.

She'd wanted to encourage them to follow their desires in life and help them to find happiness – Noll especially considering how long it took for him to find something even resembling _contentment,_ let alone _happiness_. Honestly she'd almost given up on it – especially after the loss of his brother, his _other_ half-, but thinking back to the look on his face when he'd teased Mai over the past couple days she knew that she'd been too hasty. And too blind.

Madoka and Lin had both warned herself and Martin subtly about the girl that he'd taken her away from. Noll had refused to speak about her, but whenever her name was mentioned by anyone in passing -usually Madoka on something or another when he was being difficult, and Lin in similar situations but with more rarity- there was a new level of attention he'd pay to whatever was going on. Thinking back on it now, the signs were all there and she'd chosen to ignore them because they didn't benefit her own personal needs.

It was probably her greatest failure as a mother and she steeled herself with a promise. Never again. For whatever reason, Mai had once more ended up in their lives against all odds and this time she would see her son happy. She wouldn't deny him the freedom he needed, but ignored.

Never again.

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

Lunch passed by with limited conversation, Mai eating hungrily when she realised just how empty her stomach had become. Luella had been unusually silent and absent-minded throughout the meal, much to the worry of both Madoka and Martin, however the brunette wasn't sure how to help. Normally she'd let her abilities go a little and try to get a feel for how the woman was feeling, read her aura and try to help her based on what she'd learnt. But something made her feel that it wasn't necessary.

 _'Later. If I can get her alone, maybe I can ask her what's worrying her and try to help.'_ She promised herself. Happy with her resolve, she smiled at Madoka and Martin as they stood from the table.

“Well this was lovely, but I'm afraid that the two of us need to be getting back to work for now. You're off to the zoo right? Have a good time!” Madoka wished them, pouting after a moment. “I wish I could come but I've ignored my work for too long and if I let it pile up any more then I'll never be able to leave the office.”

Martin rolled his eyes at her dramatics before leaning over to press a kiss to his wife's cheek. “I'll see you back home, love. Try not to have too much fun without us or I'll never hear the end of Madoka's complaints.” He joked, relieved at the small but genuine laugh that it pulled from the blonde.

He wasn't entirely sure what exactly had been said to make her so upset, but he would leave things be until later tonight when he could get her alone and they could talk about it. As much as he'd like to confront her about it now, there was too many people around and it was something of a private conversation.

Luella seemed to understand his uncertainty.

“Off with you two. The last thing I need is you two staying even later at the office because you slacked off during the day. Shoo.” She pushed, waving them away. It wasn't quite as enthusiastic as she'd like to have come off, but it seemed to do the trick.

Later. They could talk later.

Martin pecked her on the lips and just like that, the two of them were off down the street, leaving the blonde with a group of Japanese tourists for the afternoon.

Summoning as much cheer as possible, she turned and smiled at them. “It's about time we were off as well, right?” She pointed out before making her way out of the cafe, followed closely by the rest of them.

She would be fine with time. For now, well, there was no better distraction than a group of Japanese tourists who had never been to England.

Hearing Takigawa complain when his fiance hit him, her lips twitched.

Yes, they were _definitely_ a distraction.

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

Mai grinned as she stepped through the entrance to the zoo, practically bouncing on her toes as she looked around at everything.

Masako huffed at her friends excitement, glancing down at the map in her hands that she'd already started using since she currently lacked her traditional _Kimono_ that she'd use to hide her expressions.

“What do you say to just doing a loop? If we get going now we can probably make it around the entire place before closing time.” Luella suggested.

Nodding in agreement, the group of them started off towards the left, Mai leading on as she bounced from animal to animal, earlier worry about Luella putting on hold as she 'ooed' and 'ahhed' at the penguin beach and the butterfly paradise, completely enraptured, much to everyone's amusement.

Her phone was out as she continued to snap picture after picture as anything and everything new, completely unhindered and unembarrassed about her enthusiasm despite the teasing she could hear coming from her friends behind her as they followed at a much more leisurely pace.

Stopping in front of the lions, she looked at them in awe, their fur glowing in the sunlight, looking magestic and utterly terrifying at the same time.

Getting close to the metal fence, she leaned against it as she watched one of the lions, lowering her eyes in submissive answer when he caught her eye and started to stare it down.

Bou-san grinned as he stepped up beside her. “They're pretty cool, huh? Scary though.” He commented, looking down at her as he rested his arm on her shoulder.

Mai shook her head. “They're scary in thought, but in actuality they're lovely creatures.” She informed him, her eyes locking with the same lion who's head seemed to cock in response.

Tilting her own head, she smiled at it.

He stared her down for a moment before moving towards the her at the cage.

Ayako blinked in surprise before stepping a little further away.

“Why is it coming over here? Did you anger it Mai?” She asked, voice a tiny bit worried as the lion prowled towards them, head looking arrogant, body moving fluidly.

Masako scoffed at the red-haired woman. “What are you so scared of? They cage is perfectly fine at keeping them away from us.” She pointed out, rolling her eyes at how ridiculous her friend could be.

Before Ayako could respond, they watched as Mai crouched down on the ground a little to be closer to the lion's height.

“Hello there. I'm Mai. Aren't you handsome?” She asked.

Bou-san shook his head at her. “You know that they can't respond right?” He asked, voice teasing as he watched the younger girl interact with the creature in front of her.

The brunette didn't bother to respond, waiting patiently before the lion let out a low growl, as if in response to her words.

She grinned. “Of course you realise how handsome you are, how silly of me. Does that mean you don't want to hear me talk about it?”

The lion let out a huff, sounding remarkably amused and frustrated, making Mai laugh in response.

Luella watched on in amazement at how well things we going. She'd been here plenty of times before and she'd never seen one of the lions react like that to _anyone_. It would seem that people weren't the only ones who lacked the ability to ignore Mai.

As if on cue, a couple of the other lions stretched their legs before heading over towards Mai, letting out low roars of their own.

Mai grinned.

“Yes, yes. You're handsome as well, the both of you.” She agreed in response making them all smile. It was almost like the girl was speaking to them and hearing responses – an interesting thought although it was ridiculous in actuality.

Noticing everyone else's preference for Mai who looked like she wanted nothing more than to pet them in that moment, a cub made it's way over, head just as proud as the first one that came over.

Lowering herself even further, Mai reached out to place her hand against the wire that kept them apart, amazing the others when it let out a yawn before moving to try and rub against the hand that was there like it was a normal hand before letting out a roar of annoyance when the cub seemed to realise that it couldn't get into contact with her.

Mai let out a quiet giggle, smiling softly. “Sorry little one. I wish I could give you scratches too.” She promised, voice almost too small to hear.

The cub let out an irritated huff before moving to fall against the cage, it's paw perfectly over Mai's hand in an odd form of high-five.

“Oh wow Mai. It looks like it really likes you.” Yasu commented, trying to act like his normal self despite being as in awe as the rest of them.

Mai hummed in response, attention still caught by the little lion, feeling sad that she couldn't be closer to it. “He just wants some attention. They all do.” She offered, looking up at them with a smile.

Ayako chuckled at her. “Well as cute as they are, if you want to make it to everything else then you'll have to move soon.

Pouting a little, Mai sighed as she realised that the other woman was being realistic.

With a heavy heart she got ready to move. “I'll come back soon, okay?” She promised, reminding herself that she could come back as often as her schooling gave her time off.

The lions all gave their own roars of disappointment but it was the little cub's small roar that made Mai's heart even more heavy as she turned back to the park.

This point onwards she stuck to the back of the group, paying significantly less attention to eveything, even though she still smiled and took picutres.

Her mind kept wandering back to the cub and how badly she'd wanted to stay there with him.

Luella smiled sadly at Mai's expression whenever she thought no-one was looking. She'd been keeping to the back of the group as well, having seen everything plenty of times before and she couldn't help but note the younger girl's sadness at leaving the lions behind.

“You can come back as often as you'd like.” She reminded Mai quietly when the she glanced back at where the lions were.

Jumping at being caught, Mai smiled softly. “I know. I don't mean to be upset. They're just... they're lonely. They want more attention, especially the little one.” She sighed before shrugging.

Luella smiled. “Always so kind.”

Red rushed over Mai's face, covering her cheeks quickly and extending down her neck as she shook her head quickly. “No- not at all.” She denied.

The blonde laughed at the response. “Well I think you are. You always think about everyone else's feeling before your own. You're even thinking of the animals like you would anyone else.” She insisted, her own smile fading slightly. “I wish I could be like that.”

Mai blinked a little at the admission before remembering her earlier promise to herself about making sure she got Luella to speak about whatever had been bothering her at lunch.

Swallowing thickly, Mai chose her words carefully, letting them fall back even further from the group to give them a little more privacy.

“You are like that. You've been more than kind enough.” Mai informed her quietly. “But, it sounds like you're thinking of something specific...”

Luella sighed. “Just a thought I had earlier.”

Humming, Mai gave her a small smile. “Do you want to talk about it? I might not be of too much help but I've been told i'm a great listener.” She offered.

For a moment she was sure that Luella wouldn't tell her anything, but then as she began to speak, the situation started to fit like puzzle pieces in her mind.

“I just realised before lunch that I tied Noll down without meaning to. He had friends and a good job in Japan and because he knew that I wanted him close to me – paranoid of losing another son so soon – he moved here to be with us, leaving behind his own chance at happiness. As a mother all I ever wanted was for them to be happy, but I was so caught up in myself that I didn't even think...” Luella trailed off, her voice full of sadness.

Mai bit her lip as she thought about what to say in response to what the woman had just told her.

Turning over the words in her mind carefully, she took her time putting things together before speaking. “I think that you've gotten things a little mixed up.” Mai provided, putting her hand up when it seemed like Luella was about to interrupt her. “I understand that you might think you took too much from Naru but you're looking at things from only a single point of view. To Naru, it wasn't even a real question of whether or not to return to England – it had always been a matter of _when_. And in this case, you're also reading into his relationships too much. It's true that we're all pretty close but, well, sorry if this sounds bad but, I don't think you could really say that Naru made proper friends with the JSPR irregulars. Not to say that he didn't tolerate them, or care for them for that matter. But more like, he doesn't view people so simply? I don't know how to explain it to you, but I think you know what I mean.”

Luella turned her words over, digesting them and understanding the other view that Mai was giving her. “So you mean that he wasn't as happy as I suspect in Japan?” She asked.

Shaking her head, Mai tried to think of the right way to put it into English. “No. Not to make you upset, but most of the time in Japan Naru was much happier than I've head him being here. He formed a truce with the others, between Naru and I we had a tentative understanding – possibly even friendship – but he misses the independence more – I think. That doesn't mean that he needed to be in Japan though. He needed the closure, and he does enjoy being here as well – at least as far as I can tell.” She shrugged slightly with a rueful look on her face. “But who am I to tell you that? You're probably much more aware of how he works than me...”

Laughing lightly, Luella shook her head as she realised what Mai was trying to say and connected what she knew about her son with what the girl beside her had pointed out. She was right – not that this surprised Luella. She's prided herself on knowing her son quite well but it was clear that after Gene's, Mai's knowledge matched hers just as well.

“I understand. I'll try not to dwell on it further. But just answer me this. Do you think that Noll can be happy here? Truly happy?”

Mai smiled. “Of course. It might take a while for it to manifest in the way that you're expecting, and there's still gonna be times when he's not fine. But he's already content and he does love you a lot. Happiness is only one step further for Naru. Even now he enjoys some things more than he lets on and cares even more than that. Just be patient and don't start jumping to conclusions. He'd hate to know you were thinking this way.”

Sighing, Luella nodded. “You're right. It's time I stopped worrying over this anyway.” She agreed, a true smile spreading over her mouth. “Thank you Mai. You've really helped me out.”

Flushing, Mai shook her head. “Any time.” She assured the woman, before blinking as Yasu stopped a little bit up ahead and turned around to them.

“Are you guys going to catch soon or?” He joked, laughing at the glare Mai shot his way before jogging off, causing Mai to roll her eyes before giving chase.

Watching the two teens run around like children, Luella couldn't help but feel at ease finally and despite Mai not being able to hear her, she admitted quietly – more to herself – that she might just take Mai up on her offer in the future.

 


	15. April 12th

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back with another chapter as always, although I'm an hour behind when I usually post since I got distracted oops! Sadly no-one seemed to want to point out any of the plot points that they've noticed up until now or if they have guesses as to the underlying plot line for this entire fic but regardless, I'm glad you guys are enjoying things so far. This chapter – as it seems to these days – went in a completely different direction to where I expected it to go. It was actually supposed to be an entire chapter of girl time and shopping, but once I started writing you ended up with some more Mai and Lin bonding to a degree I wasn't planning on for a while? I'm still unsure as to how exactly this happened, but hopefully you guys enjoy it regardless since there is a certain level of story progression that I had planned for a later date that this leads to.
> 
> Update: After finishing their one-on-one interaction, this confusion is still greatly there. I don't understand how this happened and once more I worry for how long this story is going to take with how off-track I seem to get these days. Seriously. It's going to be 400 000 words in the end, I can just tell.
> 
> Funfact: Trying to speak German and write English fanfiction at the same time is not a good idea and thus, I blame all mistakes on my house-mate who drew me into a fun German argument half-way through.
> 
> Leave a review if you enjoy this chapter and just a reminder, if you guys have any ideas for moments between character's that you'd like to know more about or just cute things that you'd like to see happen, make sure to let me know! You will of course be credited for anything used.
> 
> \--- When posting this I realised that I missed posting chapter 13 so everything is out of place and confusing. That's not fixed! Sorry about that!---

 

 **** **Disclaimer:** I do not own Ghost Hunt

**Chapter Key:**

“English Speaking”

“ _Japanese Speaking”_

_'Thinking'_

**Chapter Fifteen**

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

Yawning as Mai pulled herself upright, she smiled a little as she looked around the room that was quickly becoming familiar to her. Even though it had been less than a week since they'd stayed in the Davis household, there was a certain routine she was beginning to get used to and she was sad that it would be ending soon.

Frowning, she sighed at the reminder that tomorrow everyone but Yasu would be heading back to Japan and it would be the end of the year before she saw any of them again, barring extreme circumstances. It was saddening but at the same time she couldn't wait. She'd miss them all dearly but there was something to be said for living on her own over for so long and then suddenly being surrounded by people so often.

It had definitely thrown her abilities for a loop, more sensitive to everything since their trip to BSPR, washing emotions over her at random moments that threw her off balance a couple of times.

Her lips twitched as she recalled the lions at the zoo. That had been the first moment during the day that she'd felt like herself. It was embarrassing to think of the attention she'd gathered from her friends but at least they hadn't questioned her pull towards them. There was just something calming about the emotions they portrayed and how _open_ they'd been.

It was a good change from the stifling emotions of her friends who were also doing their best not to depress her with how sad they were to be leaving her alone over the next few years with only a few visits.

Not that she didn't appreciate their attempts to keep themselves under control but having their emotions closer to a lock-down than openness had only served to throw her off balance and her abilities had instinctually tried to figure things out harder and now she was left feeling drained from the back and forwards between having them on complete lock-down to overusing them by accident.

Forcing her still-exhausted body out of bed, she shook her thoughts from her head. That was yesterday and today was a new day. There was no time to be dwelling on such negative things. Especially when – for the first time since she'd been in Gene's room – she'd woken up with a happier emotion permeating in the room. She wasn't sure what prompted the change but it was doing wonders for her own mood.

Changing into her jogging clothes, she set off, already behind since the sun was much closer to having risen than it had been the last few times that she'd gone out for her jog.

Stepping quietly through the house, she was momentarily shocked to see Lin-san at the door, hand part-way on the handle as he turned to her. She'd completely forgotten that they'd all stayed up late speaking about some parapsychology stuff last night and Luella had insisted that he spend the night as it was already gone mid-night when they'd realised the time and decided to retire.

“Good morning, Lin-san.” She acknowledged, smiling brightly at her but keeping her voice quiet. It was barely six in the morning after all.

“Morning Taniyama-san.” He greeted, ignoring her irritation at the formal use of her name. “I admit, when they mentioned that you had started jogging in the mornings I was a little unsure if it was true.”

The slight teasing tone from the older man distracted her from her irritation as she crossed her arms with a small pout. “I don't understand why that was everyone's reaction when I first started jogging. Is it really that shocking?”

“It's not the jogging that really shocked me, but rather that you were doing so in the morning. You've never been a morning person before.” He informed her, thinking back briefly on all the moments when he found himself irritated at this fact because of how late it had made her.

Mai flushed a little, but had to conceded the point. “It's not that I'm any more a morning person now... I just kind of got used to it and now it doesn't matter what I do, I can hardly sleep until seven...” She admitted.

Lin gave her an amused but understanding look.

“In that case, would you care to join me? Luella mentioned that you've been jogging towards the park?” He prompted.

It was then that Mai finally took note of the attire that Lin was wearing and realised that she hadn't even noticed that he was in a simple T-shirt and jogging pants, a change from his usual office-wear.

“As long as it's not an imposition, I wouldn't mind the company.” She agreed. Despite her exhaustion from being surrounded by people, there was something soothing about Lin's aura that was making all of that disappear.

Lin's lips twitched a little in place of an actual smile at how much Mai cared about everyone else over her self like always. “I wouldn't have offered if that was the case.” He pointed out kindly.

Flushing, Mai shrugged a little but admitted to herself that it was a bit of a stupid question.

“Right.” She agreed.

Sighing, Lin opened the door and stepped outside, holding it open for Mai as she stepped out as well, and nodding at her 'thank you' as he observed the way the girl relaxed from the moment they stepped outside. This must have been what had distracted Noll when they'd gotten back last time.

“I assume that this has something to do with your sensitivity?” He prompted, stepping down the stairs easily as Mai followed along, snapping out of her state.

Flushing as she realised that she'd gotten distracted by how things felt outside the Davis' household, she grinned sheepishly and followed after him easily, keeping pace with Lin as he broke into a light job that was barely more than a fast walk.

A raised eyebrow from Lin had her remembering his question and it took her a moment to try and figure out how to describe it best for the man – already knowing that there was no way she was getting around it even if she didn't quite understand why it happened.

Maybe he could shed some light on the situation if nothing else.

“I think so? I'm not entirely sure, but I think it's at least something to do with that. The air outside is, well, _peaceful_. But not in the same way that nature always is. I've never been somewhere like this. There's a certain _life_ to how everything feels around the Davis' mansion. I haven't been in the gardens to test my theory yet, but I'd say their going to feel the same. Everything feels light and it's almost like I can hear how happy the animals and plants I the area are – how much they enjoy just standing still and _being there._ Even the shrine and temples I've visited in Japan don’t do it justice.” She admitted, trying to explain just how _enlightening_ everything felt. “I thought that maybe it was the trees but if that was the case then Ayako would have reacted when we got here and she didn't.”

There was a level of confusion clear on the young girl's face as she tried to put sensations into words – something that despite her struggles she was much better at than she gave herself credit for since the older man could almost imagine the type of feeling she was describing. It was certainly a more apt explanation than he'd ever heard someone give.

The thought that she'd made a great teacher popped into his head but he quickly pushed it away lest it distract him.

The way that she described things reminded him greatly of how a priestess would describe the trees, but she'd mentioned the animals as well, something that Shinto priestess's didn't have a close enough relation with. Plus, Mai had never mentioned training with Matsuzaki-san. In fact, she hadn't mentioned much to do with her training at all when he thought about it.

This was something to file away and bring up with Noll later. Maybe Mai had spilled something to him since she'd been considerably less tight-lipped around him than anyone else. If not then they could always ask her about it at another date. It wasn't like they were going to run out of opportunities any time soon after all.

“I'm afraid that even though I have an idea of what you're talking about, I don't have any information of someone with similar experiences. I'll keep an eye out for an explanation though and let you know if anything comes up.” He promised. “Do you always feel nature this strongly?”

Mai smiled. “Sort-of yeah. I can't really explain it. Even when I was little I preferred being outside with the plants and nature than cooped up inside. It's only gotten stronger as I got older.”

She winced a little as she remembered that she'd enjoying the cherry blossoms the first time that she'd noticed Lin and gotten him hurt. Even after all this time, there was still a lot of guilt that she felt for how that had gone.

Noticing Mai's change in mood, Lin gave her a curious look but didn't say anything as she seemed to shake it from her only moments later.

Picking the pace up slightly, he was impressed to find that Mai still had no problems keeping up even though her legs were much shorter than his own so this was a significantly faster pace for her than it was for himself.

Up ahead he could spot the park that he assumed was the one that had been mentioned to him.

Mai seemed to brighten up at the sight of it.

“This park isn't as peaceful as the Davis' area but the place by the river is perfect for meditation.” She explained to Lin when it was clear that he wasn't going to ask.

“You do more than just jog in the mornings?” Lin inquired. It made sense in a way, but the initiative still shocked him a little. This was different to how he imagined the girl from a year ago would react. Meditation is the sort of thing that he'd always thought Mai would need to be forced into.

Noticing how she'd thrown Lin off balance from how his aura reacted to her words, Mai couldn't help but giggle. “Don't worry Lin-san, It's not exactly something that I ever thought I would take part in regularly either.” She admitted, mirth colouring her tone as she easily kept pace as he sped up again into something bordering on a run even for himself.

This only seemed to make Mai laugh however, something that he scowled at before admitting to himself that his reaction was _childish_ in a way he hadn't acted in a long time.

His _shiki_ seemed just as amused at his reaction and he slowly down a little as he schooled his emotions again, despite realising that so far Mai had been rather respectful considering that if she could read his aura while jogging then when they were just standing around it must be as easy as breathing for her.

As if sensing his thoughts, Mai smiled. “That was a different side than I expected to ever see from you, Lin-san.” She teased before becoming more serious. “I didn't mean to read your aura and I apologise if I made you uncomfortable. Ordinarily I do my best to ignore them since it feels unfair to know how someone is feeling all the time when they don't want me to, but sometimes I slip up.”

Lin winced when he realised that he might have brought up a touchy subject without meaning to. Slowly down to a walk, he shook his head at Mai's apology. “I apologise as well. It was hardly a suitable reaction and I imagine that under different circumstances I would have been quite happy for you to read my aura, but it caught me by surprise. I'm not used to be an open book, as such.” He admitted.

The brunette smiled reassuringly at him. “Don't worry about it, Lin-san. You're hardly the first person. I let myself go a bit too much when running since your company if quite peaceful and didn't realise what I was doing until too late. As much control as I have these days, It's still quite frustrating. However, if it intrests you on a more academic level, I can do aura readings for you all later on under more controlled circumstances?” She offered.

Blinking at the offer, Lin nodded before recalling Mai's aversion to 'testing' earlier.

“I don't want to put you in an uncomfortable position though I am curious.” He admitted.

Mai shook her head, seeming to remember how much she was against testing originally. “Oh no, I don't think of this in the same vein as testing. This is perfectly normal for me. I do readings for the other's quite regularly and I used to offer them at the church when I went with John for practice.” She explained.

Nodding in understanding, Lin noted down this information for later and promised to bring it up with Madoka, Noll and Martin later on.

Approaching the wooden dock on the river edge, Lin could understand what Mai meant when she said that it was a good place for meditation. Even though he was no-where near as in tune with nature, he could sense how calming everything was.

As he watched the brunette breathe deeply and take up a _Qigong_ position, he couldn't help but feel shocked. When had _this_ happened? Perhaps some of his later questions on her training would need to be moved up.

Watching carefully, he easily fell into the roll of a teacher observing their student to see where they were at with their training, and where they could improve.

He was more shocked to find that there were few faults in her movements, no doubt from being practised as often as she must if this was a normal occurrence. Her movements were fluid and well-timed apart from a couple of movements and she concentrated easily and without care for his staring that he had seen many students find unnerving and stumble mid-way from.

As her movements began to finish up, he continued to watch carefully, and was impressed when she finished up at the same pace she'd kept for most of the routine, reluctantly impressed by her self-control from rushing to finish things.

Coming back to herself from the hypersensitive state that _Qigong_ caused her, Mai blinking and then remembered that Lin was watching. Although, that's not quite right. She knew he was watching her, had been able to feel his eyes on her every moment. But she'd fallen into an easy ignorance towards it and focused instead on her own aura entirely.

Turning, she smiled at how he seemed somewhat impressed – a high compliment she knew even if he hadn't said anything yet.

“I wasn't aware that you'd started training in _Qigong_.” He expressed.

Mai furrowed her brows before realising that she hadn't actually mentioned her practice and Luella mustn't have either.

“Sorry. I thought that Luella would have at least mentioned it since I told her when we spoke about my jogging, but I guess not. Although I thought it was clear when I mentioned meditation earlier as well, or that you would ask if you didn't know about it.”

Lin sighed before nodding. “You're correct, but I had thought you were speaking of normal meditation. Your movements were fluid and well-timed except for a few moments regardless however. Well done. Who trained you, if I may ask?” He inquired.

Stretching out a little bit to completely loosen herself up, Mai smiled and began to walk back in the direction that they'd come from, speaking as she went.

“I spent some time training with the monks from Bou-san's family when my abilities first started to expand to try and control them, but their methods weren't really working for me. I don't suit traditional meditation – as you felt earlier. I can do it if I have to, but I more likely to just end up in a sleep trance when made to sit around as opposed to proper meditation.” She admitted. “At the time however, there was an Onmyoji staying with them as well and when he noticed their struggle, he offered his expertise. It took us a single lesson to realise that I was much more suited to the practice of _Qigong._ ”

Lin nodded in understanding as he followed after her easily, noticing how far the sun had risen. Had they really been out for that long already?

“You must practice regularly for your movements to be so fluid.” He prompted.

Mai nodded. “Of course. I spent only a few weeks during the holiday period with them, however in that time Master Wei taught me the importance of practising Q _igong_ regularly and recommended that I start getting into shape to further my spiritual control. Since I could feel the difference from the start, it was a good incentive to continue. It's been almost a full year since I started this routine.”

Something about the name 'Wei' was familiar however Lin simply added it to the ever growing information he had. There were many people in his practice that have a name Wei after all, it's hardly a rare name after all.

Thinking on how things must have gotten for Mai to be requesting help – something that they'd practically had to force her to do in the past with how independent she'd been – made warning bells go off in his head.

“You've never mentioned, how did your powers begin to expand to the point of loss of control. I know that we never offered you much in the way of formal training which was an oversight on out part, but would have thought someone would have mentioned to Madoka if something had happened?” He enquired.

Mai blinked at the sudden onslaught of words from Lin who usually spoke so little but quickly felt uncomfortable at the turn their conversation had taken.

“Später.*” She blurted, using the code-word herself and Yasu often used to portray a desire to leave a topic alone for the time being. It didn't mean, 'never' it meant 'later'.

Confusion showed for a second on Lin's face before he schooled it into he normal expressionless facade.

“I don't believe that's a real answer.” Or English. Or Japanese, for that matter.

Mai winced a little, upset by how harsh he sounded. Keeping her own tone soft to prevent from angering her, she flinched at how strongly Lin was radiating his annoyance at being brushed off.

“I'm sorry Lin-san. I don't mean to ignore your question. I didn't mean to upset you. It's just... I don't like to talk about what happened.”She tried to explain quickly before he could anger further, stumbling over her words as she tried to rush the English out, wishing for the first time in a long time that she was speaking in her mother-tongue, but determined to keep using English. “I'll tell you eventually, or if I don't then one of the other's will slip but I just – später. Later. It's the code-word Yasu and I use, and I guess, you now as well?”

Just as quickly as the irrational annoyance at being brushed off had come, it left. What was wrong with him today? His emotions were more all over the place than they were when he was with Madoka for God's sake.

There was a sense of specialness to being given the code-word that Mai shared with only one other person, and a level of trust he felt settling with himself as he realised just what he was being offered. Mai was giving him her safety word and trusting that if she ever used it and Yasu wasn't around then he knew what it meant. And offering to the same thing for him.

Unsure of how to accept something like that, he could only nod, words failing him but hoping that she could sense how much her trust meant to him.

There was a silent moment before Mai turned to him and beamed, a sense of gratitude and relief in her eyes.

The rest of their jog passed by in silence as they enjoyed the peace, a fundamental difference between them that was obvious, and yet something that Mai felt like she'd been missing for years.

This feeling promptly left her however as she made it to the mansion and stepped inside, smiling gratefully when Lin once again held the door open for her.

Letting out a deep breath, she felt the emotions slam into her as usual but held steady, focusing on pulling back from them slightly and finding where everyone was instead, a ritual that she'd been doing since she arrived here, and found comfort in.

Noticing a familiar aura in the dining room with the rest of her friends, she frowned.

Still wordless, Lin raised an eyebrow.

There was a fleeting thought that maybe he'd used all his words on their morning talk that made her lips twitch before she pushed it away and responded.

“Everyone is in the dining room. Even Naru. That hasn't happened since we first got here.” She explained.

Shrugging at his look, she opted to just make her way over to the dining room and let herself in, keeping the door open for Lin like he had for her the last two times before letting it shut.

“Good morning Mai! And Lin as well! Did you two go out jogging together?” Luella inquired, voice chipper as always in the morning as she watched the two of them take their usual seats.

Mai grinned sheepishly. “I ran into Lin on my way out this morning since I got out later than usual and we decided it could be interesting. He looked over my _Qigong_ exercises.” She explained as she reached across the table to grab a slice of toast and add it to her plate before also grabbing some orange juice and pouring it into her glass.

Yasu grinned a little from next to her and waited until Mai took a sip from her juice before speaking.

“Running off with an older man now are we Mai? It's been less than a week on foreign soil!” He exclaimed while looking scandalised, satisfied when it caused her to choke half-way through her drink and cough when it went down the wrong pipe.

Swinging around her her best friend, she glared. _“What the hell Yasu?!”_ She shouted back, voice a little rough from how hard she'd been coughing while her friend doubled over in laughter and everyone else looked on amused except Naru and Lin who simply rolled their eyes.

Masako covered her mouth as she tried to look like she wasn't amused at her friends reaction.

“Really now Mai. I had thought you'd have a little more decorum. And one that's in a relationship as well.” She tsk'ed, making Bou-san double over along with Yasu and prompting a snicker from Ayako.

The brunette turned to glare at her other friend, muttering some choice words too quietly for even Naru right next to her to hear before she opted to ignore them in a show of rare maturity.

Turning to Luella after swallowing her mouthful, she smiled slightly. “Did you decide on the plans for today while I was out? I don't think Ayako would be up if you hadn't.” She joked, ignoring the indignant scoff from her friend.

Luella grinning. “Oh yes. We've decided that since everyone will be leaving soon, today is the perfect opportunity to go shopping.

Mai froze at the information before immediately turning to Naru. “Take me with you.” She hissed, knowing he was going to BSPR and she would much rather spend a day there than be stuck running from shop to shop all day trying on clothing that she didn't want or need.

There was a level of amusement in Naru's eyes as she gave him her most pleading look and for a moment he seemed to consider it while the other females were distracted into a conversation about what shops they could visit and where they could get lunch.

That only made Mai more desperate to get out of the activity.

“I can make you tea if I go with you.” She pointed out, trying to be as convincing as possible, much to Yasu's further entertainment.

Glancing over at Madoka and Luella however, Noll could already tell that it would be an exercise in futility.

“As tempting as your offer is, it doesn't nearly stand up to utter hell I'd go through from Mother and Madoka.” He informed her, his voice quiet as a smirk tugged at his lips.

The crest-fallen look on her face was so dramatic he was tempted to chuckle, but schooled himself into impassiveness.

“ _Here lays Mai Taniyama. Killed by the excitement her friends put into an activity they wanted her to enjoy but she hated with a passion. May she find peace in the knowledge that she'll never again have to go shopping.”_ Yasu whispered, just loud enough for Mai and Naru to hear, prompting a giggle out of Mai as she noted her own dramatics.

Hitting him lightly for his words, she resigned herself to her fate. It couldn't be any worse than she was used to after all.

Right?

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

*später is literally the word for Later in German. I wanted a word that seemed foreign for Mai to use since she wouldn't want a word that you could just blurt out on accident in the middle of normal conversation, so this seemed to be the best that I could come up with. I hope that there's enough detail about on the concept of a Safety Word and how important it is to Mai and Yasu, and how much this changes her situation with Lin? If not, feel free to ask any questions. I just felt like Mai is the kind of person to forget how to say “i can't talk about that right now”, and who breaks if pushed too far on a topic she wants people to leave alone but has trouble explaining that to people. I actually think this is something that people should have more often in real life since people seem to limit safety words or safe words to just the practice of things like BDSM even though they're perfectly valid as a normal everyday tool. But even if you don't really believe in the concept or understand its relevance right now, try to remember the word since it will 100% come up in the story later on.

 

 


	16. April 12th - Pt. 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back again! I'll warn you all straight away, review responses got wayyy out of hand this time around. I'm used to rambling on, but this is crazy. I didn't even realise what I'd done until I looked over how long they'd gotten and they took up an entire page, like what even? So sorry about that. Regardless, I hope you guys enjoy the long awaited shopping trip, despite how little It's been detailed. Honestly, I don't have a ton of experience with shopping trips that you actually go wild on, being a conservative person with my money has been my goal since the first time my pay check came in and what experience I do have is from being in Japan where I permitted myself to spend whatever because I was holidaying. But, regardless, I threw everything I could into hopefully portraying a somewhat realistic experience, with a surprise on the side, although I ran out of words and time so you'll have to wait until next chapter for that to come into proper play.
> 
> Leave a review if you enjoy this chapter and just a reminder, if you guys have any ideas for moments between character's that you'd like to know more about or just cute things that you'd like to see happen, make sure to let me know! You will of course be credited for anything used.

 

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Ghost Hunt

**Chapter Key:**

“English Speaking”

“ _Japanese Speaking”_

_'Thinking'_

**Chapter Sixteen**

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

Oh how wrong she'd been, Mai noted as she stood in the middle of a large mall, feeling like she was drowning from the amount of emotions that surrounded her as she tried to reign herself in as tightly as possible and put up a shield around her mind to protect herself.

At Madoka's squeal of excitement, she turned her head curiously to the other woman and wasn't surprised to find her running off towards one of the display mannequin’s in a shop window.

“Let's go in this one!” She called out, before entering without waiting for a response.

Shaking her head in exasperation, Mai followed after without much complaint as Luella almost ran after her friend and Ayako followed suit having spotted something that she also wanted to take a look at.

Moving at her more sedate pace, Mai found herself standing with Masako just outside the front entrance.

One look from the Medium made the brunette smile, noting the level of concern for her friend that she could see in her eyes.

“I'm alright. I've got everything on a tight lock-down. I just- I'll need some time to myself later on so if you can fend them off then?” She asked her friend, trusting her to understand her current development.

Masako gave Mai the smallest of smiles before nodding.

Out of everyone Mai knew, she knew that Masako would understand best what it was like to just be surrounded by _too much_. It wasn't something that the other three had even considered – honestly Mai hadn't even considered it. She'd been so worried about the shopping itself that she'd forgotten how long it had taken for her to be able to even go into the busier areas of Tokyo when her abilities had started growing and how much worse everything felt when surrounded like this.

Noting her friends absent-mindedness, Masako reached out to gently touch her arm.

“Perhaps it would be better inside one of the shops, further away from all people out here.” She suggested, worried, but determined to help her friend make it through the day.

Even though she complained, Mai did actually enjoy going out with the rest of the girls, even if the activity was shopping. And since they were already here, there wasn't much to be done on the subject except to keep on moving.

Mai sensed her friends thought pattern and took a deep breath before double checking she had everything on lock-down - the emotions and auras around her much more muted than usual – before nodding and shaking herself a little in the hopes to get herself hyped up.

“Let's go get some shopping done.” She steeled herself before finally entering the store.

Much to her relief, Masako had been correct about it being easier to bear the weight of peoples emotions from inside the store and soon she found herself distracted enough by her friends and the various pieces clothing that she didn't even notice it.

The rest of the morning continued to pass much like that with Luella, Ayako, and Madoka conning Mai into letting them buy her a skirt, new pair of jeans and three new tops – much to her irritation.

Luckily, the older women were beginning to wind down a little as they grew hungry and not long after they called it quits for the time being and made their way over to the food court after a quick trip out to the car to drop off what they'd bought so far – lest Ayako's arms fall off.

Mai snickered slightly at the thought as she recalled just how much her friend had ended up buy in the past three hours.

Looking around, the brunette immediately felt overwhelmed with the different options to choose from.

“So, do we want to get proper food court food and sit out here, or do we want to go and find a restaurant that's inside and sit in there instead to eat?” Luella asked, deferring to the three Japanese women who looked mildly unsure.

Biting her lip, Mai considered the options carefully but ultimately the strain of what it would be like to sit in the packed food court had her opting for a one of the little restaurants she'd seen along the way.

Masako nodded in agreement.

“Yes, I'd also appreciate somewhere a little quieter to eat. I recall a place called Coffee Club* that seemed like it had many options.” She suggested.

Ayako lit up at the suggestion. “Oh yes! I saw that as well. Have either of you two ever been?” She asked, looking over at Luella and Madoka curiously.

Nodding, Madoka started off in that direction straight away.”Yes, of course. They do have nice food. And it's not too expensive either. Good eye.” She agreed, grinning.

Following after her, Mai was relieved. A chance to get away from the near constant noise around her _and_ the chance to sit down finally? It almost seemed to good to be true.

It didn't take them long to find a seat and Madoka explained how this particular type of restaurant worked - there were no waiters, they had to go up and order and then they would be given a table number to use -, reminding her of how the vending machine style restaurants** in Japan worked.

After they'd each gone up to order, they settled back down at their table.

“So, where else do we still want to go this afternoon?” Luella asked, directing her question towards Mai than any of the other girls. It seemed like Mai was enjoying this significantly less than the rest of them were but she hadn't made much in the way of complaints, letting them drag her along without protest.

It made the blonde feel a little guilty, but she wasn't sure how to broach the subject without drawing unwanted attention to whatever the topic ended up being.

Thinking about it, Mai smiled slightly in an attempt to placate the worry that was screaming from Luella even as her powers stayed tied down and blanketed.

“Well if you don't mind the change of pace, I actually need to find somewhere that supplies loose leaf tea. I make my own mixes but I could only bring a minimal amount with me here and I'm a little worried that it's not going to last me much longer with the amount I've used between myself and Naru.” She admitted.

This shocked the woman slightly. “Noll drinks your tea that often? I wasn't even aware that he would drink anything made by someone else. He's always needed everything to be done perfectly. Even now there's only a single maid at home that makes it quite right – other than myself of course.” She explained, awe clear in her voice.

Mai flushed. “I do run a tea shop, though.” She pointed out, “I've almost always made my own blends of teas and I like to play around. I've never found Naru to be that picky though...”

The way she trailed off belayed her confusion at the new information. Her tea wasn't that good, was it?

Noting how unsure she appeared to be, Ayako cut in easily.

“Mai's tea has always been really good, so I'm not surprised that he became addicted to it. If he didn't have tea almost every hour, Naru tended to get irritable.” She proclaimed receiving an affirming nod from Masako who had experienced the same irritation.

Luella laughed lightly at the thought of it. “And now that you can make tea again for him, I suppose that's the reason for his sudden 'good mood'?” She joked, only to find a knowing look on her pink-haired friend's face.

“It's actually my current theory. Mai used it to bribe him when we were at BSPR.” She revealed, pretending like it was a secret and grinning at the flush that began to cover the brunette's cheeks in embarrassment.

“Which won't be happening again any time soon if I can't find some loose tea leaves.” Mai reminded, refusing to acknowledge just how warm her cheeks felt.

Luckily she was saved from speaking further on the subject when their food began arriving.

Tucking in, she kept her eyes on the table as she let the conversation between them flow over the rest of their lunch, relishing in the moment of almost quiet while it lasted.

If it weren't for her desire to find the tea leaves before her collection ran out, Mai was almost certain that she'd be begging Yasu to bail her own right now, well and truly shopped out for the time being. Sadly she was going to have no such luck as they discussed further where else to go.

“I haven't bought a single pair of shoes yet today so that needs to be next on our list after we get Mai's tea.” Ayako informed them all, making Mai roll her eyes.

“Or,” Mai suggested, swallowing a sip of water. “You could go shoe shopping and I can catch up with you after I get the tea.”

Madoka pouted at her. “But it won't be as fun if you aren't there.” She complained.

Masako covered her mouth. “I'm actually curious about the tea options here as well so I'd like to go with Mai for now. I'm sure you can manage for an hour on your own.” She scoffed.

Ayako bristled at the condescending tone despite knowing that she was being baited, sitting up straighter in her chair. Before she could start to complain however, she was cut off by an equally appalled Luella.

“An hour?”

Giggling a little at her disbelief, Mai nodded. “Like I said – you can go shoe shopping while I go and get tea. I'm not one to settle for anything but the best when it comes to my tea so it'll take me quite a while once we manage to find the place.” She informed them, completely serious. “I'm sure we'll catch up to you eventually though, so don't worry!”

 _'With any luck they'll be almost shopped out by then.'_ She thought to herself.

Sighing when she realised it was a losing battle, Ayako conceded. “Make sure that you text me when you get to the tea supplier, and before you leave.” She ordered, worry for sending them off on her own obvious.

Rolling her eyes, Mai smiled a little. “Yes, yes. I promise.”

Ducking the swat from her friend, she pulled Masako along, exiting the restaurant before they had a chance to change their minds. She loved her friends dearly but she really was beginning to need a proper break. An entire day to herself, without worrying about dampening her abilities or considering other people's wants and needs.

Spotting one of the maps, she noted where she could find the tea supplier, watching as Masako also took note, before they headed towards the nearest elevator to go up another two floors.

It was quiet between the two of them, both of them feeling the strain of being constantly surrounded and opting instead to enjoy what silence they could get within the loud building, and before Mai knew it they had managed to find the little store hidden in the corner of the top floor.

Pulling out her phone, she fired off a text to Ayako so that she wouldn't find herself being lectured for forgetting.

Looking around, she noted the variety of flavours and options, Masako doing the same. There were a couple that were familiar and a few other ones that were from a brand she liked, but she'd never spotted in Japan.

“Are you after anything in particular?” Masako asked finally, noting a couple that she was sure her parents would like and picking them up to place them in the basket she'd grabbed upon entering the store.

Mai hummed a little. “Kind of? I'll know it when I see it. Don't worry about me. Though, we might be here for a little bit.” She admitted, picking up a raspberry flavoured tea and placing it in her basket that already contained mint tea, earl grey, chamomile and green tea.

Covering her mouth, Masako sighed a little. “I expected as much remember. We have at least half an hour before they're going to consider us re-joining them.” She reminded lightly.

Nodding in understanding, Mai set to work grabbing different teas from the shelves at what appeared to be random to her younger friend, but was mostly planned from Mai as she took note and considered which teas she needed for her personal blends, grabbing some things for her tea making as well, most notably some more tea bags to prepare in advance.

 _'Or perhaps to give to Naru.'_ Masako considered, heading up to the counter to pay for her own, content to watch her friend flit around and amused when she noticed the shock on the cashier's face at the amount of tea currently in her basket.

Accepting her bag from the lady, she thanked her politely before leaving the small store to sit on one of the seats provided in a rest area just across from the shop, sighing at the chance to relax. It was quieter at this end of the centre as well, which helped.

Around thirty minutes later – much like she'd predicted – Masako watched Mai leave the shop with three large bags, rolling her eyes in a share show of unladylike behaviour at the sheepish look the brunette was sporting.

“Are you sure you spent enough?” She teased. “I believe that's the same amount that Ayako spent on actual clothing.”

Mai winced, a little guilty at the amount that she'd spent but deciding it was worth it if she didn't have to come back to this centre for _at least_ the rest of the year.

“I suppose I might have gone overboard.” She admitted, “ But I think it's better to have more than less in this case.”

Masako decided that it wasn't worth the argument, instead looking down at her phone to note where their friends were currently.

“I texted Ayako since you seem to have forgotten. They're on the first floor towards the entrance. Apparently they're pleased enough to call it a day.”

Mai grinned. “Thanks. I completely forgot about that. I'm glad that they're done though. I've done enough shopping for until the end of the year.” She complained, voice only slightly joking.

“Not to complain, but I agree. I'll be in no rush to shop when we return home.”

Snorting at the 'not to complain', Mai opted not to say anything further, their walk continuing in silence just as it had the first time. She couldn't wait to get back to the Davis'.

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

It was later on that night that anyone noticed something that was up as they finished eating and retired to the lounge room, talk about how today had gone flowing easily enough.

“Mai literally bought the entire tea shop, I swear.” Madoka relayed, disbelief as clear as it had been when she'd noticed them earlier that day, “She walked out with three big bags. She must have had nearly the same amount in tea than all three of us bought in clothing items.”

Rolling her eyes, said brunette huffed at the description but refused to re-start _that_ argument, instead putting on her most innocent smile as she titled her head in false confusion, directing her gaze towards her female friends before trailed it over to an amused Yasu as she spoke.

“But you were complaining that I'd barely bought anything when we went to lunch. I thought you'd be happy?”

Luella laughed as Ayako spluttered, “You aren't supposed to spend half of your money on _tea leaves!_ ”

“Well then, I hope that you were intending to at least share. That much tea _can't_ be good for you.” The blonde woman pointed out, not even the least bit shocked after their earlier conversation as the rest of their group, bar Lin and Noll (because they were never rowdy like that), and Martin (who couldn't understand the sudden change of pace), cheered at the idea.

Bou-san put on his most convincing pout as he turned to the younger brunette. “I've barely had your tea this entire week we've been gone and normally I have it every day.” He whined, making her laugh.

A voice in the back of Oliver's head commented, _'How do you think I've felt this past year?',_ but he tried to ignore it, reminding himself that his own withdrawal had been his own fault entirely.

Humming, Mai pretended to think about. “Well I _guess_ I can make some.” She agreed, acting reluctant as she stood up. “I'll be back in a little while I suppose.”

Watching her leave the room, John blinked as he noted her English. “A little while? It doesn't usually take too long?” He asked aloud, curious.

Yasuhara shrugged, smile tugging at his lips. “Who knows what she has planned.” He pointed out, despite his own inkling as to what was going on.

Apparently his friend had been paying attention to his manipulation techniques when he didn't think she was however, because getting them to ask for something that she already intended to do was something he had a habit of doing, but he'd never outright explained it to her.

 _Kami-sama_ , he was so proud of her sometimes.

Narrowing his eyes at the look of pride hiding in Yasuhara's eyes, Noll glanced around to see if anyone else had noticed but seemed to be the only one who had caught anything.

That meant they really were all in the dark about what was going on and he wasn't likely to get anything out of the boy himself.

Settling back to observe, he decided to wait it out and see what Mai was up to.

It couldn't hurt after all.

Distracting themselves, Martin turned towards the group of friends. “So, you're all flying out tomorrow night?” He prompted.

Ayako nodded, a sad look on her face. “Yes. It's going to be a bit lonely back home without Mai around and things will be weird for a while but I suppose we have to get used to it eventually.” She sighed.

There was a sound of disappointment from Yasu's spot as he turned to her with a fake wounded look on his face. “You mean you won't miss me as well?” He asked, pout settling on his features.

Bou-san scoffed at the younger man. “You're the _last_ person anyone is going to miss.” He informed, a put out look on his face.

Stepping it up a notch, Yasu forced his eyes to tear up just slightly, pretending to be even more hurt by that statement.

“I don't know how I can go on now, Madoka! The love of my life, my own heart, has proclaimed me unnecessary. It will be months before we see each other again and he cares not!” He exclaimed dramatically, pretending to cry into his hands, amused when everyone's attention was definitely on him and not how long Mai was going to be gone.

Shaking his head, John offered Yasu a small smile, always the nicer one. “I know I'm not as important to you as Takigawa, but I will miss you.” He admitted.

Lighting up at the blonde priest, he smiled widely, pretending to suddenly be overwhelmed with happiness.

“Thank you so much John. You're a true sweetheart. If only I could have fallen in love with you instead of such a cruel man.” He continued theatrically.

“Who are you calling cruel?!”

They all ignored the monk's response without even thinking, instead moving on from their entertaining drama as they turned towards more normal topics, all while Luella continued to laugh at the situation.

Not wanting to spend too much time of frivolous conversation, Oliver tried to steer it towards something a little more interesting or at least, something that could be used in his research.

“What kinds of cases have you experienced in the past year? You mentioned that on occasion you still all work together?” He inquired.

There were many interesting cases during his time in Japan and while being home had its benefits, mostly the closeness to Luella, he did miss how much more diverse the options had been while there.

Ayako hummed. “That's true. While not as often as when you were in Japan, we did usually have a least one case a month with all of us together. Mai used to go with each of us separately on occasion as well.” She admitted, thinking on what they'd done since Naru had left.

Masako agreed quietly, face covered by her traditional kimono since they were inside, as she spoke softly but clearly. “Mai used to come and help me on set when she could spare the time. She was quite useful in making sure that things didn't escalate too far, and in giving me information that helped me to coerce spirits into moving on.” She admitted.

There was an unsaid compliment in the air that no-one touched, lest the young girl take it back, as Bou-san continued speaking easily.

“Honestly the one who knows the cases the best over the past year is actually Mai. We can tell you about some of them, but she's such a trouble magnet and half of the time whatever the spirits were doing ended up directed towards her instead of anyone else.” He divulged, an irritated look on his face at the thought of how often it had resulted in her getting injured before they'd even realised something was wrong.

Martin looked a little intrigued, if somewhat concerned about that.

“Is it normal for Mai to spend so much of her time being targeted?” He enquired.

Yasu's grin turned a little wry as he responded. “Calling Mai a trouble magnet is pretty accurate. I have notes on her cases and her attacks that you can take a look at another time.” He offered, “But yes. It is quite normal. I'd be more shocked if we made it through an entire case without any injury appearing on her person.”

“She has an openness, a lightness of her soul. It attracts spirits left and right. Even taking her away from cases cannot change that. Mai is just as likely to be approached from a spirit on the street as she is while on case – though cases are the more violent situations.” Masako explained, trying to convey her own understanding of how Mai looked to those of the other world. “She's like an extremely bright medium, easy to find and so, so kind.”

Luella smiled for the first time since the topic had come up. “Those are some high praises.” She pointed out, a slight bit of awe in her tone at how beautifully the young girl had described her friend.

Shrugging a little, Masako turned away with a slight pink on her cheeks. “I only speak the truth.”

“I suppose I should prepare for multiple visits to the hospital while you're studying with us here?” Martin suggested, a sigh in his voice as he considered how this was going to affect her studies.

Ayako sighed as well. “Yes. Normally I treat her instead unless we need to go to a hospital for my things, but without that she'll probably spend a lot of time in your ER. She heals remarkably fast though.”

Oliver opted to note that down as well for future reference as he thought back on her injuries while they worked together and was forced to agree. Her body bounced back as quickly as her mind did a lot of the time, and was just as durable.

Tilting his head, John narrowed his eyes at a thought. “I wonder if there are any injuries she _hasn't_ experienced either through her dreams or in real life?” He mused.

“Any injuries who hasn't experienced?” A voice called out, shocking them all as Mai suddenly opened the door, a curious look on her face.

Scoffing, Ayako gave her a disbelieving look. “Just who do you _think_ we're talking about?” She shot back with a huff.

Mai blinked before flushing when she realised that they were talking about _her_.

“Can I plead the fifth?”

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

*Coffee Club is a real restaurant/cafe line here in Australia. I'm not sure if they're international or not but they do great food at a decent price and we have them in like 90% of the shopping centres that I've been to. I'm taking liberties though because I've never seen them laid out like an inlaid restaurant (although I've seen a couple that are close).

**I'm not sure how to describe this or how common this is in other countries so I wanted to note it down, but here if you go to one of the restaurants in a shopping centre, they'll often bring your food out to you or call out a number so that you can go and collect it but you have to order at the counter and pay up front either way, no-one comes to take your order for you. I'm not sure what the vending machine style restaurants are called but it was pretty common from what I saw in Japan, where you went up to a vending machine and selected what you want to order by pressing a button, then you'd pay and be given a ticket which you would bring straight to the chef so that there's no need to pay for waitress staff or the like. (I just realised that these would have been the bane of Naru's existence because everything is usually in kanji – the one I went to in Kanda had an English one to use, but that was pretty out of the norm – and it might have been one of the few times that Naru actually went out of his way to learn some kanji.)

 


	17. April 12th - Pt. 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omg, 17 chapters already?! Time really flies by. This chapter marks the end of our stagnant period and somewhat filler arc style chapters and after the next chapter or so I will hopefully be writing up Mai and Yasu's first experience with Cambridge and their classes! Who's excited? I sure am. But I enjoyed writing this chapter a lot too. The beginning chapter will explain some things and be on the lookout for a block of italicised text that marks Mai's essay excerpt which is written in English but I didn't want to bold it because personally I find it annoying to read large amounts of bolded text. Additionally, a large portion of this chapter is dedicated to our favourite couple and some character building between the two of them for you all to enjoy. You don't actually get to see the departure of the JSPR crew in this chapter, but in general a lot of that will be glazed over so you don't need to worry too much about that becoming future filler and me dedicating an entire chapter to it. I'm more likely to have maybe 500 words on it so bear with me please as we finally get this show on the road!~
> 
> Fun Fact: This chapter is a differed version of an unreleased chapter of the original story that was fully written, but not edited, that I never got around to posting.
> 
> Leave a review if you enjoy this chapter and just a reminder, if you guys have any ideas for moments between character's that you'd like to know more about or just cute things that you'd like to see happen, make sure to let me know! You will of course be credited for anything used.

 

 

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Ghost Hunt

**Chapter Key:**

“English Speaking”

“ _Japanese Speaking”_

_'Thinking'_

**Chapter Seventeen**

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Laughing lightly, Luella motioned for Mai to step further into the room, noting the tray in her hands filled with steaming tea cups.

“You'd better put that down before you trip and break them.” Bou-san teased, making the brunette scowl and place it down quickly before turned to stick her tongue out at him in retaliation.

Huffing she moved to take her usual spot, pout on her face.

Yasu grinned, pushing up his glasses. “You know, you should be more careful. You could've jinxed her.” He pointed out.

The other man rolled his eyes. “There's no such thing as jinxing, it's all coincidence.” He scoffed.

  
“Yuuta.” Mai responded at the same time Yasu called out, “Risa,” and John and Masako called out, “Takada.”

Pouting, the monk sighed. “I still say it's coincidence.” He proclaimed.

Mai hummed. “If something happened it could have been a coincidence.” She agreed, placing the tray down in the middle of the room, “But it also could have been the result of you putting the thought of it in my head and my subconscious then trying to avoid the outcome and thereby causing nervousness about my situation and further impairing my ability to move and making me drop everything.”

Seeing an opening, Luella couldn't help but chime in. “Oh yes. The moment he said that I could see you tense up and worry about it being possible which was much more likely to cause you to fall then if he hadn't said anything. There's some interesting psychology behind the concept of jinxing as well.”

Smiling over at her, Mai nodded. “I've read a couple of articles, it's all very fascinating.”

Ayako sighed. “And that's more than enough learning for me today.” She groaned out, pretending to rub at her temples like a headache was beginning to form even though that wasn't the case.

“You know, inability to learn is one of the signs of getting old.” Bou-san teased, grinning as he watched his fiance's face start to turn red.

“Who are you calling old, _Ojii-san*?!_ ”

Masako scoffed at their argument, a smirk tugging at her lips. “I don't know how anyone could consider you two _old_ when you clearly didn't make it through kindergarten.” She informed them primly before turning away from them as they began to glare at her, gesturing towards the teas. “Which one is for me?”

Grinning at her friend, Mai picked up one of the teas and handed it to her without a word, nodding at the thanks she received and taking it as her cue to pick up each of the tea cups and hand them around to each person before picking up her own and taking a seat.

Glancing over at Lin's cup, Madoka's eyebrows furrowed at the completely different colours they were.

“Are these all different teas?**” She asked, curious about the situation as the JSPR crew simply took a sip.

Blinking in surprise, Mai looked over at her and titled her head in confusion. “Of course they are? Why would I make everyone the same tea?”

Luella's eyes widened. “Oh you didn't have to go through all that trouble.” She insisted, glancing over at Martin's tea and noting that her friend wasn't kidding.

It was then that she noticed that there was a variety of intermingled scents in the air, not just a single tea. How had she managed to miss that?

Taking a sip of the tea in her hands, her eyes widened at the flavours or cinnamon and apple, as well as something else that she couldn't place.

“I've never had a tea like this before.” She noted, a little bit shocked as she took another sip to try and figure out what it was.

Mai giggled a little at her reaction but didn't comment, waiting for everyone else to try there own with varying reactions.

“Why did you make us all singular teas? We would have been quite happy with just the one flavour.” Martin assured her, a little confused and worried that they'd put their guest in a situation where she thought that this was necessary.

Bou-san waved him off. “Mai rarely makes a single tea for everyone unless she's just making a pot. She owns a tea shop back home and thinks that its an insult to her craft to just make the one type.” He teased.

Pouting, Mai turned away from him. “Just for that you don't get any tea for the rest of the year.” She huffed.

The older man rolled his eyes at her. “You'll cave. You always do.” He teased.

Yasu grinned. “While that's true enough, this was more for Mai's benefit than any 'insult to her craft'” He informed his future professor before the two of them could get into a proper argument.

Lighting up at the reminder, Mai grinned over at him. “Oh yeah. If you guys can give write down your honest feedback and comments on how it suited your tastes personally, that'd be a great help to me. And if you could list one or two other teas that you usually prefer to drink then it'd be an even better help.” She admitted before Yasu could spoil too much.

If they had any idea what was going on then it would spoil the results of her experiment and then it wouldn't be admissible. Not that she couldn't do it again. She'd been periodically testing things over the course of the year when she 'tries new flavours' on the others and had taken down various notes at this point. But it was always better to have more than less to work with.

Naru narrowed her eyes at the way that she explained what information she needed. There was something about it that was sending off warning bells in his head. Not that Mai would ever put them in any danger – more like she was up to something and no-one seemed to really understand what.

Sipping at his tea, he tried to think about what he knew about Mai and her current studies.

Luckily for himself, without the distraction of Mai to take him away from his proper work, he had gotten everything finished and had finally had the time to dedicate towards finally reading her entrance paper. It had definitely been much more enlightening than most of the other ones and he could admit – if only to himself – that he was looking forwards to her future works. Maybe he could convince his father to let him read some of the papers she writes for her future assessment pieces?

Filing away the thought to take it up with his father later, he continued to examine the situation.

Running over the words he remembered from the entrance paper (that he _did not_ read more than ten times – only nine), he recalled what Mai's over all aim had been.

> “ _Auras and aura reading, while an interesting section of study, holds much more potential then currently explored. At a basic level aura are an electro-magnetic filed that surrounds all living things. Many psychics explain that auras are made up of multiple complex layers consisting of colours, symbols and on some occasions, images. These images and colours reveal much about the person, but I hypothesise that they could reveal further details such as someone's preference for food or drink, or possibly even a personal desire. Through personal experimentation continue to document the current outcomes in the interest of furthering this study.”_

It had been an abstract idea that was so _Mai_ that he hadn't really considered just how she would go about documenting it, and judging by everyone's reaction, none of them had even realised that it was happening yet.

It was very sneaky and so very _not Mai_ that he was beginning to think that Yasu had a hand in it.

Almost as if the other boy was reading his mind, he turned and winked at Oliver before continuing with his conversation.

Smirking now that he'd solved that mystery, he leant back with his tea and opted to enjoy the rest of the evening, only chiming in to correct everyone a couple of times as they passed the time.

When Luella turned to the clock a little later, she blinked in surprise. “Oh dear, it's almost eleven. We really should be getting to bed. You all have a long afternoon ahead of you all and I imagine you'll want to be fully rested for your trip home.”

Ayako nodded, sighing. “You're right. Will we be seeing you all again before we leave?” She asked, glancing around the room.

Madoka grinned. “Of course. We'll be there to see you off.” She proclaimed, not leaving any room for argument.

Biting her lip, Mai fought hard not to flinch at the way it felt like something had suddenly curled in her stomach, tightening everything in a way that could mean two things – something bad would happen if they all went tomorrow, or she was more upset about her friends leaving than she thought she would be.

 _'Or both.'_ The helpful voice in the back of her mind pointed out. Which was a valid point.

Smiling widely, she allowed Bou-san and Ayako to steal her into hugs goodnight before waving them off.

Leaning down to put all of the tea cups on the tray, she looked up when she heard the sound of Luella's voice.

“Sorry, what was that?” She asked.

The blonde smiled kindly at her. “You don't need to worry about that. James can take care of it.” She assured the younger girl.

Shaking her head, Mai fought against portraying her need to do _anything_ , _something_ , to stop the feeling from in her stomach, to focus on something else.

“It's alright. It's not that far away and I'd feel bad for the rest of the night if I let someone clean up after me.” She insisted.

Luella still looked uncertain but let herself be dragged away by Martin with minimal further complaint.

From his seat, Oliver watched as Mai finished cleaning up, wishing Lin and Madoka a safe trip home since they had an early start in the morning and didn't want to make the journey from here into town when their own place was much closer.

There was something about the way that she was moving, stiff and _wrong_ that prevented him from going back to his room straight away. He wasn't particularly tired yet so he decided he was much better off watching.

Mai seemed almost fragile as the door shut quietly after the last person left leaving on himself and the young brunette in the room – though it seemed like she had forgotten that he was there.

Waiting, he followed after her as she left the room, heading towards the kitchen silently, completely unaware that she was being followed.

Stepping into the large room, she continued on to the sink, placing the tea cups in carefully and slowly.

When the last one was place, Noll deemed it safe to speak.

“What's wrong?” He asked, never one to beat around the bush when he could get straight to the point and get answers all the faster.

Jumping at the sudden sound of another persons voice, Mai turned around, hand over her chest as she calmed her racing heart. Yet again Naru had managed to sneak up on her.

Blinking, she took in his words and found herself biting her lip despite knowing he would note the action and place her nerves instantly.

“Nothing's wrong.” She answered after a moment.

Oliver scoffed. “Don't be ridiculous. You look like you're about to fade away.” He noted, not saying out loud how much that thought terrified him.

Mai seemed to catch it anyway, smiling softly at him. “I promise I won't. There's nothing wrong – not really.” She insisted.

Hesitating at what to do in this situation, he tried to think of what Gene would do. There had been too many emotional moments between them already since she'd returned to England and he was quickly reaching the end of his knowledge on what to do.

Thinking about what they'd spoken about – he recalled that she'd wanted to see the gardens at one point and seemed enamoured with nature as a whole these days.

“Would you like see the gardens?” He asked before his mind had a chance to catch up and decide that he was being ridiculous. It was eleven at night for the love of god!

Those thoughts were wiped from his mind however when Mai smiled properly at him, smaller than she had before but so much more real.

“I'd love to.” She accepted, despite her own reservations. Part of her was psyched at how romantic and intimate it was as a situation, but the more reasonable part of her was still concerned by the tightness in her stomach and the wetness that had been trying to form at her eyes despite her best efforts.

Before she could change her mind, Oliver reached out a hand to pull her along.

A little surprised at the touch, she went along easily before remembering the tea cups. “Wait, Naru. I have to finish cleaning up.”

Mai tried to stop but he pulled her along easily. “Leave them. They'll still be here in the morning and it isn't like you're the only one who can clean them up. Leave them for James.”

Huffing at his lack of respect for his houseworkers, she grumbled a little under her breath about unhelpful narcissistic bastards, completely unaware that this was the response he had been aiming for.

Relieved at the usual direction things had gone, he stopped long enough to open the door before pulling her through, feet stepping out onto the stones that made the path leading through their garden.

Looking around, any more insults Mai had were stopped as she breathed in, eye closing as she almost immediately relaxed in the cool outside air, shivering slightly from the lack of coat or jacket, but otherwise already feeling much better than she had moments ago. Even the tightness in her stomach seemed to lessen – if only slightly.

She was a little disappointed when the warmth from Naru's hand dropped away but scolded herself for it.

 _'He doesn't like physical touch.'_ She reminded herself, glad that he had held onto her for as long as he had.

“Come on idiot, there's more than just this.” Oliver informed her, smirking at the look of awe on her face as they followed along the path, lights marking the edges of the path and lighting things up magically.

She couldn't help but be glad that it was night time when she saw everything for the first time, a magically feeling overwhelming her as she looked around at the different plants and flowers that were organised everywhere.

Just like out front, there was a certain kind of peacefulness in the air, a sense of purity.

Noticing a gondola up ahead, she grinned, moving to take a seat as soon as she was within distance and noting happily that Naru didn't hesitate to follow after her.

She should have realised that it wouldn't be so easy.

As soon as she was settled, eyes closed as she enjoyed the breeze, Naru took the chance to bring up his earlier topic once more.

“Will you tell me what's been bothering you now?” He asked.

Opening her eyes suddenly at the question, she looked over at him, unable to feel nervous in the same manner as earlier because of how calm her surroundings were, but equally as unsure of what to say.

Noting her dilemma, Noll prodded. “Try to explain it.”

Swallowing, Mai nodded in acceptance, trying to put together her feelings.

“I just- I was reminded that everyone goes home tomorrow and Madoka was talking about seeing them off and there's just a bad feeling in my stomach about it and I can't tell if its just me not wanting them to go or if there's something else in play that I should get you all to avoid.” She admitted, swallowing thickly when the words were out there.

It was silent between them as Oliver considered her words. Mai usually knew her feelings well enough but in this case there was so much uncertainty. He'd never considered that her instincts mimicked emotional feelings before but there seemed to be a clear correlation between them now and it was definitely something to consider for later analysis.

“How do you usually tell the difference between your emotions and instincts?” He asked finally.

Furrowing her eyebrows in concentration, Mai tried to put it into terms that someone without experience would understand even if it seemed ridiculous to her.

“Well they feel similar, but usually there's a clear line between them and a certain pull to do something to prevent the bad thing from happening – or sometimes even brief flashes of what could happen if I don't do something to prevent it.” She started.

Noll noted those 'flashes' for later questioning as well – she'd never really mentioned them before.

“But mostly I just _know_ , the same way that I know anything else. This time it's all intertwined though and I can't tell one feeling from the other. It's never happened before.” She admitted.

Considering it, he recalled her earlier words and it seemed obvious. “Then it must be both. Something bad happening simultaneously at the moment you're likely to experience your own emotions tomorrow.” He deduced.

Mai thought about it and it seemed _right_ but it didn't help her with preventing the bad thing.

“What could go wrong at the departures section of the airport though?” She asked, more to herself as she thought aloud.

At once everything seemed to click for Oliver and he suddenly felt more grateful for Mai's abilities than ever before.

“The departures section of the airport? Why there?” He asked, determined to see if his current theory was correct.

Mai blinked in surprise at the sudden question, tilting her head. “Because that's when I'll be most emotional since it's the time when I’ll have to officially say goodbye, right?”

Naru raised an eyebrow at her, deciding this was a perfect time to make a point. “Are you asking me or telling me?”

A little confused at the sudden change of pace, Mai narrowed her eyes. “Telling you.” She stated, much more decisive this time.

Nodding in satisfaction, Oliver smirked. “Good. If you phrase your responses as questions in class you may as well not bother because it's the same as asking for the answer.”

Everything seemed to click at once and Mai huffed, glaring harder at him – much to his amusement. “Jerk. You chose _now_ as a time to teach me?” She grumbled.

“You should always be learning – there is no right or wrong time.”

The superior tone he said that in made the brunette roll her eyes, smile pulling at her lips. “There's no need to sound like such an old man about it.” She teased.

Oliver scoffed. “I hardly think old men like Takigawa could sound half as wise as me if they tried.” He informed her, smirk on his lips.

Mai's jaw dropped open a little in surprise at his return of her teasing.

“Did you just-”

She cut herself off, pouting a little at the amused look he was giving her.

“Yes Mai?”

“Never mind.”

Noticing how off track they had gotten, Noll brought his focus back to their initial issue and tried to think about how to breach the subject.

It was a sensitive topic for Mai just as it was for his entire family, but he didn't want her to continue thinking, and he'd have to explain it Madoka so she could convince her parents against going to see the other's off in the afternoon, so he was better off starting with Mai.

 _'Why is Mai easier? You've hardly known her the longest and until recently you hadn't spoken at all.'_ His subconscious pointed out, making him scowl.

It didn't matter _why_ it was easier. He could analyse things like that later when he didn't have to think about the feelings of the girl in front of me.

_'Since when do you worry about other people's feelings about a situation?'_

He ignored that thought the same way he had the first time it had occurred to him that Mai was more than just an extra thought and instead had become a priority. The only answer he'd ever managed to come up as an explanation was 'because it's Mai' which was hardly an answer – and yet it was the only one that rang true.

Shaking himself from his thoughts, he opted to go about things the same way that he always had, the same way he had started their conversation tonight. Straight forward and to the point.

“It's because of Gene.” He stated finally.

At the sudden sound of Naru's voice, Mai looked away from the flowers she'd been looking at a moment before, waiting for him to come back from whatever part of his mind he'd fallen into.

“What is?” She asked, voice softer than before.

“The reason for your bad feeling. The last time we all saw Gene was when we saw him off from departures. If we go there tomorrow, mother and father will probably be a wreck for the entire day. I can't believe none of us considered it.” He explained, voice sounding off towards the end.

Trying to place what it was, she was shocked when the memory of Naru missing something the very first time they worked together and how he'd reacted came to mind and everything suddenly made a lot more sense.

It was odd to see him be so self-deprecating, but it wasn't her first time and perhaps, (a small part of her hoped) it wouldn't be the last time he showed this side of himself to her.

“You aren't the only one that missed it.” She reminded softly. “None of the other's considered it either.”

“But if you hadn't had a bad feeling-”

Mai cut him off, firming her voice when she realised that being soft wasn't working. “Oliver Davis, you listen to me. There is no 'But if'. If you run through scenarios like that you'll wear yourself down and it'll be a bad time for everyone. We did catch it, and tomorrows send off will be all the better for it. Don't dwell on the things that haven't happened.” She scolded.

More shocked by the use of his real name than her scold, Oliver shook himself from the scenes running through his mind and nodded.

She was right. It hadn't happened, and now things would be better for their understanding.

He considered thanking her, the words on his lips when he noticed her shivering slightly.

 _'Of course. We've been out here for a while and neither of us thought to grab something warmer to wear.'_ He mentally supplied.

His lips twitched. “Come on idiot. It's time to go inside.”

Standing up, he didn't wait for Mai to get up and follow him before moving along the path towards the house.

It took the brunette a moment to catch up, shocked as she was the by the sudden onslaught of warmth in her cheeks from the real smile she'd gotten from Naru. It had been small, but it meant as much to her as any other smile that she'd ever been given from him. It meant so much to her.

Running to catch up to Naru in the hopes that the cold and sudden exertion of energy would disguise the redness of her face, she tried to sneakily look over at Naru as they walked side by side.

“I'm okay.”

The sudden promise confused Mai for a moment until she realised that he thought she was watching him out of concern.

Thanking _Kami_ for the save, she smiled at him.

“If your sure then I believe you.” She assured him, looking away. “But it's okay not to be you know. You don't always have to be. Okay that is.”

She cursed how fumbled her English sounded in that moment and by the smirk that was now gracing Naru's lips, he was just as amused.

“ _I know.”_

The muttered Japanese threw her for a moment, but before she could consider just what that meant they were stepping inside the house and heading back towards their rooms.

It was silent between them as they climbed the stairs, the rest of the house eerily silent as well. Noting the time on a clock as they walked past it, Mai blinked when she realised that they'd been outside for nearly an hour and half. Had it really been that long? No wonder she'd gotten so cold.

Thinking of her warm bed that she could just fall into for the night, the feeling of exhaustion hit her all of a sudden.

Glancing over, Naru shook his head at the tired look on Mai's face.

“If you were tired you should have said so, stupid.”

Pouting, Mai crossed her arms and looked away. “It's not like I would have been able to sleep if we hadn't been able to figure out what my feeling meant.” She pointed out softly, refusing to rise to his insults – more because everyone else was probably fast asleep. “Besides, you _have_ to be tired as well.”

Naru smirked. “I'm not like you. I don't need that much sleep to function.” He informed her.

Huffing at his tone, she narrowed her eyes but refused to shout, instead keeping the resulting insults to herself as she grumbled about him.

Before she even realised it they were at Gene's old room.

Yawning, Mai pushed open the door. _“Oyasuminasai***, Naru.”_ She muttered, smiling fondly as he responded with, _“Go to sleep, baka****.”_ and opted to do just that, falling asleep quickly as warmth enveloped her body.

She almost thought she heard him mutter _'thank you'_ , but that was likely just a dream.

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*Ojii-san is the Japanese term for grandfather, not to be confused with Oji-san which means uncle.

**Okay, so here's the thing. I've taken all of my tea ideas from websites like Lipton and Dilmah who actually know what they're talking about because I _do not_. I'm not a tea drinker and I could barely be considered a coffee drinker considering I take my coffee the same way as Spencer Reid from Criminal Minds. This is all purely me winging it so hopefully you guys don't mind the lack of detail. The flavours aren't even really touched on here but I figured I would note it down for when it becomes relevant later on.

***This is the Japanese term for goodnight. Normally because I use the italics, I don't bother to place the Japanese word with a few exceptions such as Bou-san's name, the honorifics on everyone's names in general, and words that just won't get the point across otherwise (such as Ojii-san above), or rather I think they have more impact. In this case however, this is probably going to be a term that pops up frequently so I thought I would make sure to include it here so that you guys can follow along.

****Most of you have probably heard this already, but this is the Japanese term for idiot or stupid, a common insult used in anime so I thought it would fit my needs well. This, like goodnight before it, will probably become a 'thing'.

 

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on tumblr at shellsan.tumblr.com if you ever want to chat or throw ideas at me!


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